


Recreating the World for Someone Like You

by orphan_account



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band), Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, Best Friends to Lovers, Camp Half-Blood, Capture the Flag, Cute Michael, Epic Fighting Scenes, Fighting, Fluff, Goddesses, Gods, I am terrible at tagging, Lashton - Freeform, M/M, Monsters, Quests, THERE'S A MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH BUT I PROMISE THAT EVERYTHING IS HAPPY AND OKAY IN THE END, Underworld, Violence, angry and shy calum, demigod!5sos, lots of gays, malum
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-10-03
Packaged: 2018-04-10 15:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4396574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Calum, unknowingly a child of Hades, is suddenly taken from his little town of Lexington, Nebraska where three weird kids kidnap him and take him to a "summer camp." There, his world is quickly filled with fighting monsters, raging gods and goddesses, talking to ghosts, and a boy with changing hair. </p><p>Oh, and somewhere in there, he saves the world.</p><p>(Demigod!5sos with mythical creatures, Epic Fighting Scenes, and many moments of "Oh Gods, I Think I'm In Love With My Best Friend.")</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Napping Of A Kid And An Immortal Goddess

**Author's Note:**

> I'm very sorry for any mistakes in grammar or anthing, but I'm working on six hours of sleep and am very excited for this !!!

**Friday, July 27th, 2015, 7:38 p.m. Lexington, Nebraska**

Calum Hood slowed his running pace to a slow jog, his shadow stretching out alongside him in the warm summer air. His chest rose with every deep breath he sucked into his lungs while his music blared loudly into his headphones. Calum slowed completely to an easy walk and wiped the sweat from his face with the bottom of his shirt. Black hair splayed on his forehead, sticking with sweat to his tan skin. He took out his headphones and let them dangle from underneath his shirt while he cooled down and let the summer air deep into his chest with every inhale he took. An uneasy feeling settled into the pit of his stomach and he looked around nonchalantly to not draw any attention to himself. A cat ran from the side of his neighbors house and knocked into the metal trash can, causing the discarded fruit peelings and takeout boxes to spill out over the light grey concrete. Calum stopped in his tracks and regarded the spilt trash with annoyance—and some relief—before sighing and walking briskly over towards it to pick it all up.

"Stupid cat." He swore, scrunching up his nose as he smelt and touched the nasty, vaguely slimy, food. He began humming to himself for a distraction as he continued the dirty work. He lifted his head up to look around once the majority of the garbage was picked up, his brown eyes quickly moving about his general surroundings. The uneasy feeling settled back into his stomach and he pretended to look for the annoying cat while he really searched for something that was out of the ordinary. 

The cat, a gangly orange thing known as Pesky Pat (a college student once jokingly said the name and it stuck, much to the annoyance of pretty much everyone), was perched on top of an old red car, its matted fur dirty with old food and grime from God knows where. 

"You are a great pain in my arse, you know." He told Pat, picking up the last of the trash and rocking back to sit on his calfs. Pat meowed in response and licked his paws happily, apparently very pleased with himself. Calum wiped his hands on his basketball shorts and stood up, shaking his head at Pat with an amused smile streached accross his lips. As Calum was walking away, a branch snapped in the low trees behind him and he turned quickly, his heart hammering in his chest. Calum searched the tree line to the forest as his neck broke out in a cold sweat and hands became clammy. He stood there silently, watching and waiting for something, anything, to happen in the tree line. The trees cast a shade over Calum that made the back of his neck crawl and he quickly jumped out of it and briskly walked away. 

Calum felt comfort in his own shadow, and always had. His earliest memories were of him staring in wonder at the grass around him as his shadow mirrored exactly what he did, and even created games around it. It was usually the same in all shadows, the comfort and happiness, but something about that moment made him want to disappear and run away. Calum continued to walk away, putting his hands on his hips in what he hoped was a casual way. The fingers of his right hand curled slightly over the black pocket knife that he kept on him at all times, the familiarity of it bringing him some peace of mind as his Nike trainers landed softly on the concrete one after the other. His mother never told him where she got it, he just knew that it meant something special to her, and in turn, to himself. It was probably an old grandfather's, Calum once thought. 

The sun was disappearing farther and farther down into the line of small houses on the street and Calum continued his brisk walk back home; he was too afraid to run in the chance that he'd need the energy for sprinting later on. Most of his neighbors were elderly couples who turned in pretty early, while the rest were down at the river celebrating the summer weather with cool lemonaids and sparklers; he was all alone out here. Calum gripped his knife harder in his hand and unclasped the clip from his pants so he was holding, closed, in in his fist. He whistled a random tune and turned his head sharply at the flash of blue ducking around the corner of a house, his heart stopping in his chest. No one ever even thinks about stepping out of their shell to be different, he thought shakily, his hand gripping his knife. He clenched his jaw so tight it felt uncomfortable and swallowed past the lump in his throat, his heart beating as fast as hummingbird wings in his chest. 

"Who's there?" He called out uncertainly. "I know someone's been following me around; I saw your hair and heard you. If you don't hurt me I won't hurt you." Calum threatened, his voice echoing eerily off the houses. His right hand stayed at his side as his fingers slowly unclasped the knife. The breeze rustled some leaves on the street, creating a mini whirlwind of dancing particles. 

"I doubt you could hurt me." A voice said behind him. Calum turned around sharply and held out his knife shakily, his eyes widening as the opposer jumped away with a strangled scream. " _Dude_ , what the fuck?!" They screamed, one hand on their cheek and the other over their heart. "Ow ow  _ow_." He moaned, cupping a hand over their cheek. 

The kid had sandy blonde hair that was tied back in a bun and hazel eyes now scrunched up in pain. They wore an orange shirt with faded letters reading  **C MP LF B OO** with dirty, ripped up skinny jeans, and a messenger bag type thing slung over their shoulder. Blood was running from under their large hand and between their fingers, the thick liquid staining the orange shirt a dark red. 

"Oh- Oh God." Calum said, dropping his knife and staring at his hand. "I didn't even know I'd cut you and- Oh God you're bleeding  _a lot_." Calum felt sick at the sight of all the blood and he stepped back, clutching his stomach. Suddenly, a girl with bright blue short hair pushed past him and quickly started talking to the bleeding boy quickly as she dug into the bag around his shoulder. She seemed to be shoulder deep into the bag—and even stuck her whole head into it briefly—before pulling out a little cube of a cake-looking substance and shoving it into his mouth. 

"Put that thing away!" She hissed, glaring at Calum with brown eyes which were much lighter than his own. She dug in the bag some more and continued to glare at Calum as he stood there, looking a little green and wide-eyed. 

"It's just a knife, I don't understand..." Calum said softly, trailing off as the air around his once small knife shimmered and seemed to vibrate until it was over two feet long and deadly looking. The once-knife gave off a purple-black light and had a dark power surrounding it, like it was sucking up the darkness around all of them. His small knife had transformed into a long sword with a black leather hilt and a word carved into the dark blade. 

"Νύχτα μανία," Calum whispered, reading the words and understanding what they said almost immediately. "Night Fury." He crouched down and traced his fingers over the soft leather of the hilt. A sudden rush of rightness makes his breath catch in his chest and in a fit of bravery, he completely grips the sword and stands up fully, the weight feeling oddly familiar and utterly right. 

" _Hey!_ Quit standing there and help me stop the bleeding! I don't know what kind of blade that it, but it is definitely something dark and wicked." The girl had a cloth pressed to the cheek of the other who was staring at Calum through lidded eyes. "And put that thing away; it's starting to freak me out." The guy, whom Calum still did not know the name of, looked at the sword with interest and spat out a mixture of blood and saliva. How he got blood in his mouth, Calum didn't know (but he also didn't know  _what the hell just happened,_  so anything could, really). 

"Stygian Iron." He choked out through gritted teeth. He pulled away slightly and looked at the blue haired girl. "Get—Luke. You," He said to Calum, "Help." 

"No way I'm leaving you with-" The girl started, stopping once the guy put a blood-stained hand on her arm. Calum placed the sword back on the ground for lack of a better place to put it and tried not to look at it longingly. "Fine." She stomped off towards the tree line and didn't look back. Calum stared at the boy and noted something within him, a yellow-ish light, seemed to be getting dimmer with each passing second. It looked faintly like lightning bugs that were grouped together where in the middle of his chest, just between his pecks. Slowly, the light got dimmer and dimmer, like the bugs were too exhausted to continue lighting up. 

" _No_!" Calum exclaimed, reaching out to steady the swaying body in front of him. "You're dying... I can see it. Feel it." He looked towards the house he'd just passed and shadows and imagined them wrapping around the injured boy, healing him. Calum, not quite understanding why he needed to get to them or what was happening, grabbed the boy by the shoulders and shook him slightly to keep him awake. "We need to get to the shadows- here." Calum grabbed the boy and supported most of his weight as he shuffled him towards the darkness. "I honestly don't know what I'm doing but I'm gonna give it a go anyway." He confessed, wringing his hands together after he propped the boy against the side of the house. He looked down at his hands and almost gagged at the sight of the bright red blood on them, and even had to cover his mouth with the crook of his elbow briefly to stop his dinner from coming back up. The boy was responsiveless and Calum quickly removed the bloodied rag from his face as he tried to ignore his churning stomach and pressed down on the wound with his own hand. Calum closed his eyes and concentrated all that he could on the image of the boy with healed skin. He felt power surge inside himself and into the boy in his arms, like a river flowing downstream and into a lake. He kept pushing on and even squeezed his eyes shut harder as a pressure inside his head pounded away at his skull. 

"Stop," A weak voice said, starting to pull at his hand, "You're killing yourself, kid. You need to stop." 

Calum opened his eyes with a gasp and staggered back, exhaustion hitting him like a ton of bricks. His brain pounded inside his skull and felt like it was three sizes too big. Calum looked through lidded black-brown eyes to see more alert hazel eyes looking back. They were pretty, Calum thought deliriously. 

"That's quite a weapon you've got there." He said, breathing hard and looking pale. Calum imagined he looked the same despite his normally tan complexion. Calum, not comprehending what he said, nodded mutely. 

"I'm Ashton." The boy finally said. Calum nodded again and staggered over to the side of the house Ashton was leaning against and slid down it until he was sitting with his knees pressed to his chest. "I'd always heard of a Stygian Iron," Ashton said, staring at the sword a few feet away. "But I'd never actually seen it in action. Or felt it." He added grimacing slightly and leaning more against the wall of the house, his blonde hair matted with dried blood. 

"I want it to be my knife again." Calum finally said, looking at the blade that made him feel powerful and lethal. 

"You know I could probably-" 

"-Ashton!" An extremely tall blonde boy with legs like a giraffe came running from around the street, a backpack bouncing on his back as he ran. When he was closer, Calum noticed he had stormy blue-grey eyes that looked stricken with emotions, and a cute upturned nose. He had a rough scruff lining his jaw line that creeped down his neck. It was something that Calum could never grow for himself, so he was instantly jealous. The new boy immediately reached into his backpack, poured water over Ashtons face from a water bottle, and started to wipe away the drying blood with another rag. "Pixie said you were-" He broke off, his voice cracking. "You're okay now though, right?" 

"Of course, Lukey. You can't lose me that easily." Ashton replied, giving the other a closed mouth smile. Luke, Calum guessed, thought that was a good enough answer, and nodded. His face became suddenly more determined and he looked at Calum for the first time, taking him in with calculated eyes. Calum, feeling awkward being blatantly stared at, reached a leg out to pull his sword towards him, causing Luke to glance down at the blade as well. His vision swam with black dots around the edges and he blinked a few times to get rid of them. Luke eyed his sword and took a step away from the menacing blade, his jaw clenching. 

"We should get going. Four of us in one place smells real nice to some... things." He said vaguely, already turning away from Calum. He's strange, Calum thought deliriously, barely able to think coherent thoughts. Luke picked up Ashtons' discarded messenger bag and slung it over his shoulder before helping Ashton stand by wrapping an arm around his waist. Calum managed to move his sword towards him and he used it as a cane to pull himself up from his sitting position. His vision blacked out momentarily, almost like he hadn't eaten enough that day or wasn't drinking enough water. 

"Wait," Calum said as his voice slurred slighting. He stopped the two dead in their tracks and waited until Luke turned back to look at him. "Where are we going? I can't leave my mom without saying goodbye." Calum shook his head to get his swimming vision to focus. Luke opened his mouth to talk but Ashton said something before he could even find the right words to say. 

"We're friends of your mom—she wanted us to come get you. Don't worry; you'll see her again." Ashton promised. Calum nodded numbly and staggered another step forward, completely believing them. His sword drug behind him as he followed Luke and Ashton, barely recognizing the usually familiar surroundings. He felt like he was high, but with more pain and less relaxation. 

They led him to a black Jeep with tinted windows where the blue haired girl, Pixie, was tapping anxiously on the steering wheel. The side of the car had a logo reading  _Delphi Strawberry Service_. Another girl, no older then twelve, was sitting in the back, patiently waiting for them. Luke soundlessly sat in the passenger seat while Calum climbed into the back with Ashton filing in right behind him. 

The little girl immediately began fussing over Ashton; She felt his forehead, ran her hand over the pink skin that was left of the injury, and tried to make him drink something. He still had blood on parts of his face and clothing, not to mention his hair. It looked like he wa getting his hair dyed red and hadn't washed out the color yet. 

"No, Avery, I'm okay, seriously. He's worse than me; tend to him. He looks like death." Ashton insisted quietly, causing the little girl to stop her work on him and look at him sternly. 

Calum leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes. He kept the sword between his legs and wrapped both of his hands around the hilt to steady it. Avery, he assumed, tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, and he turned his head and opened his eyes with much difficulty. She pressed a small hand to his head and immediately drew back with a gasp, her eyes wide and mouth open in shock. Avery tugged on Ashtons' sleeve and made his touch Calums' forehead as well. His large hand made contact with Calums' forehead, but he immediate retracted it and swore quietly under his breath. 

"Shit," Ashton said louder, looking at his hand like he'd been burned. "Mate, you're ice cold." 

Calum slowly took in this information and rolled it around in his head a few times before swallowing the metallic spit in his mouth and nodding to show his understanding. He moved his eyes over to Luke who was nervously chewing on his nails and staring at him with his eyes widened with worry and confusion. They locked eyes and Calum stared into the blue eyes that held secrets he could never imagine and a thought capacity far larger then his own before Calum felt too exhausted to continue and fluttered his eyes closed. The last thing he remembers is the taste of his favorite coffee on his lips, a worried murmur coming from the occupants in the car around him, and the sweet purr of the Jeep as it takes on speed. 

\--=--

**Tuesday, July 31st, 2015, 2:29 p.m. Calum's Dream, Long Island, New York**

_Calum pants as he continues running down the pitch black corridor, the blade of his sword Fury doing next to nothing to create a light source. He knows he's looking for someone, but his mind scrambles to think of who it could be. He hears whispers all around him, and the ghosts of his past swirl in thick white smoke around his face, causing his eyes to burn. He slashes through them all and feels his blade soak up their essence, gathering himself in their demise. He blindly looks behind himself and tries calling out for someone but no sound comes out, only a hoarse sound like he was choking. He clenches his hands into fists but immediately stops because it feels like both have long, deep, gashes going through the middle of them. He winces and stumbles slightly at the pain, but continues his running immediately afterwards._

_He uses his senses and turns at the end of the hallway, the dark and swallowing feeling leaving him almost instantly as the smell of grass and old bark fill his nose. The soles of his vans hit the soft ground of the damp, springy moss and he slows his pace, listening intensly behind himself. He takes a few moments to catch his breath and looks around. There are plants and animals that Calum has never seen or never knew existed, and a light is emitting from the crystals in the dirt above his head. They dim and relight--as though they were breathing in and out--all at their own pace and depth. There is limited darkness here, but that doesn't stop the creatures from cowering away from him._

_Calum tries screaming at them to help him, but once again the hoarse noise comes out. He slashes out angrily at the air in front of him, tugs on the stands of his hair, and then continues his running, hoping the end of the tunnel will lead him to somewhere useful._

_Sweat drips down his face but he doesn't stop to wipe it off or pause to catch his breath. Someone needs him, he knows it._

_Calum almost runs right into a concrete door, but trips on a root and stumbles into it instead. He presses his hands and ear onto the damp wall and listens intensly. He can faintly hear laughter and screaming and the familiarly of it all makes his blood curl and a hot flash of anger go through him._

_"NO!" He finally screams, thrusting his sword through the stone like it's butter and using all his strength and powers to push. The stones explode into a huge chamber, the sound echoing off the wall and making the ground shake. The room is at least 300 feet tall, with vines climbing up the walls and towards the ceiling like they were desperately trying to escape. A Gigante as tall as a hotel stands with her back to him as a green-haired boy lays in agony on the ground, his clothes in tatters and his chest splattered with blood and dirt. The Gigante has two thick brunette braids starting from the top of her head and ending at her mid-back, with armor covering her chest. Her legs resemble those of a chicken, but with red snake scales covering them instead and looking slick with slime._

_He recognizes the terror in front of him from the books about mythology his mother had given him as a boy, and his blood runs cold as the name and meaning floats around in his head. The earthen floor around Calums' feet become frosty with ice as he glowers where he stands, the temperature dropping rapidly around him. The blackness around the room reaches out to him as he seethes at Periboia, the bane of Aphrodite, with his sword gripped tightly in his hand._

_"Well well well, Son of Hades." She says without turning around, her voice smooth and soothing. "You made it just in time to see your little friend die." And Calum watches her bring a giant sword to the middle of the chest of the pretty boy; And Calum watches the boy choke on his own blood and cry out for him as he stands there, the life draining from his pretty green eyes; And Calum watches himself unleash a wrath so dark, the very Earth cries with him and his pain._

"No!" Calum bolted upright and breathed in heavily, his heart beating wildly in his chest. He looked down at his clean hands and clenched and unclenched them a few times, images of them bloodied flickering past his eyes. " _Nightmare_." He breathed out, his fingers fisting in the soft sheets under him. "It was just a nightmare." 

Calum placed his clean feet on the floor of soft grass and stood up on shaky legs, his shorts brushing around his knees. A pair of jeans and an orange shirt were laid on the back of a chair, the sunlight from a crack in the tent-like structure warming them. It was bright outside with people walking freely around just outside the thin sheet walls. There was only a mattress on a plain wooden frame, a table, and a few chairs in the tent, and it wasn't too hot or too cold. Calum touched the clothes hesitantly. Before he lost his nerve, he quickly changed into the blue jeans and orange shirt, the cleanly printed black words reading  **CAMP HALF BLOOD**. A pair of Vans in his size were at the foot of the bed, and Calum slowly put them on, his limbs feeling like wet sand. 

The dreams were always a part of his life—filled with monsters and people he'd never seen or heard of before—but this one was the most vivid, the most real. And the boy... Calum hadn't known him, but he'd certainly known Calum. He took a few deep breaths to help himself remain calm and counted up to ten and back down three times before nodding his head and whispering encouraging words to himself. 

"Everything's fine." He whispered as he stared at his hands. "There is so boy and no darkness and no Gigante. You're okay." He ran a hand through his unruly curly hair and then scrubbed the same hand over his face. "Fuck, I'm even talking to myself like a crazy person." He chuckled dryly and slapped himself on the face a few times before looking at the tent flap with a determined expression. 

He stood up once more and crumpled up his dirty clothes, leaving them on the bed as he pushed open the tent flaps and walked outside. 

"Outside" was nothing like he'd ever imagined. Kids of all ages and sizes were walking around and chatting together happily with swords or knives slung in their belts or bows and arrows on their backs. They were all different, but some had more resembling features than others—noticeably their eyes and facial features. Some even had on armor with designs on them and words Calum couldn't make out. The stone under Calum was a dirty marble with grass growing in between the cracks, making it look old but still elegant. Victorious cries rang out and metal clanked against metal and everything was so glorious that Calum was rendered speechless (well, it's not like he had anyone to talk to anyway). The campers glanced warily at Calum standing there as they passed with varied expressions of excitement and wonder on their faces. Calum made his feet fall in place with the rest of the crowd, trying his best to not look uncomfortable in his own skin. He craned his neck to look up at the tall towering trees and the crystal blue sky that seemed to shimmer in the warm summer air. It smelt of strawberries and the ocean. 

"Calum!" A familiar voice called out, jogging through the crowd. A glorious mop of blonde hair flopped behind them as they weaved in and out of the crowd like a salmon swimming upstream in a sea of people. Ashton stopped in front of him with Luke close behind him, both looking happy, well rested, and clean. "Hey man, you're finally up!" 

"Yeah, I guess." Calum said uncertainly, not liking all the attention that the two brought with them. The campers around them looked at them with annoyed expressions as they had to move around them. Calum figured Ashton and Luke ( _especially_  Luke) would be upset over the whole sword thing, but they smiled at him like he'd told them he could summon puppies with the flick of his wrist (which would be completely awesome in more ways then one). 

"We thought we'd lost you there for a second." Luke said, completely catching Calum off guard. He opened his mouth to answer but closed it again, deciding whatever he had to say wasn't going to be right. "You're probably really hungry, but we need to give you a tour of camp first, then see Chiron, and then call your mom up here so she can explain everything to you and to us." He continued. Luke didn't look in Calums' eyes as he talked which was somehow comforting. Calum processed what he had said and didn't stop the smile from breaking out across his face, his eyes crinkling cutely at the corners.

"My mom? She's coming here?" Calum shifted on his feet excitedly, his eyes bright. "Why can't I see her first? Is she safe?" 

Ashton, very pleased by Calums' reaction, motioned for Calum to follow him with a smile on his face that was just as bright. "She's perfectly safe and just a little confused—Chiron wouldn't have it any other way." 

"Oh, okay." Calum said, following without question. He eyed the way Luke and Ashton walked together—their arms brushed in a way that told him they were more than just friends. "I thought you'd never wanna talk to me again after the whole... You know. Face thing." He said bashfully. He scratched the back of his neck and jammed his other hand into one of his back pockets, his brown eyes apologetic and wide. 

Ashton just shrugged his shoulders, while Luke followed suite. "It was an accident. And besides, you're the one who fixed me with your cool voodoo shit." 

Luke laughed at at Ashton like he was the sun and leaned into him until their shoulders were pressed together in a happy and comfortable way. Calum looked between the two with squinted eyes (partially from the sun and partially to figure out what they were to one another). He didn't understand what was so funny to Luke. 

"Oh. Well, thanks for not ignoring me then." Calum said finally, his voice small and quiet. Neither of the boys heard him, but all Calum did was sigh in recognition and follow them silently. 

\--=--

Calum felt like his eyes were as wide as saucers. The whole camp was beautiful, with things and places he'd never even seen before. From the climbing wall to the stables, Calum felt like he was in a whole new universe then the one he left in Nebraska. There was a sense of familiarity here, as well. A distant memory, almost. 

"...And here's the Dining Pavilion." Ashton said, stopping at the top of the big hill they'd just climbed. Calum started in wonder at the massive structures all around him. Torches hung from all Greek columns that lined the perimeter (there were no walls or a roof) and the floor was a grey stone. In the center of the room there was a fire pit next to a crack about three feet long. There was an aura around it like smoke after a fire which Calum was immediately drawn to. Calum started towards the crack and stared down at it once he was standing in the center of it. 

"Do you know what this is from?" He asked Ashton, resisting the urge to reach down and trace the scar with his hands. 

"Uhm..." Ashton shared a look with Luke whose face looked pale in the firelight. "You can talk to Chiron about that later." 

Calum ground his teeth in frustration and clenched his fists together. All day both Ashton and Luke had given him no information on what he was doing here, what he did to Ashton, or pretty much anything else about camp besides that it was  _freaking awesome_  (Lukes' words). 

"Look," Calum snapped, glaring darkly at the two. "If it's about my father, you can tell me." The whole 'let's not tell widdle Calum anything' thing was getting annoying. 

"No no!" Ashton rushed out, grabbing Calums' arm and visibly flinching at his cold temperature. "We really need to speak to Chiron first. He'll tell you everything, I promise." 

Calum narrowed his eyes at Ashton and gave him his darkest glare. Ashton swallowed uncomfortably under Calums' suspicious glower but smiled at him in what he hoped was a comforting way. The tan boy shook his arm to release Astons' grip and finally nodded stiffly. 

"Whatever. As long as there's food." 

\--=--

Calum happily munched on pomegranate seeds, the bitter yet sweet juices coating his mouth in the best way possible. Ashton, Luke, the horse-guy Chiron, and a whole bunch of other people Calum didn't particularly care about stared at him with a range of emotions from amusement to distaste as they munched on their bland crackers and sipped their Diet Cokes. 

Ashton had taken him to the Big House where Chiron (the centaur camp director) and a bunch of other kids were sitting waiting for them. There were drinks in the center of the ping-pong table, as well as cheese, crackers, and assorted fruits. 

"We're just waiting on Michael," Chiron told him (as if Calum even knew who Michael was) as he ate another handful of the seeds. "He should be here soon." Calum nodded mutely and popped another few seeds into his mouth, chewing on them thoughtfully.  _At least my dad being Hades explains why my favorite fruit is pomegranate_ , Calum grinned to himself even though it made him look like a madman, and continued to eat the fruit. The many mishappens in his life started to finally make some sense. 

The wooden door to the room opened and Calum glanced up from the fruit in his hands to address the commotion. When his eye locked on the new human in the room, his chewing stopped completely. The person who'd just walked in was the boy from his dream, but instead of green hair his hair was a bright pink, and instead of his chest being in ribbons, it was hidden away by a black shirt that read a  **CENTAURS ARE THE BEST-AURS**  in bright white letters with a cartoon looking centaur giving the thumbs up. His face was clean from sweat and dirt, and he smiled hugely at everyone when he entered, his red lips stretching over perfect white teeth. When he wasn't screaming in agony and covered in his own blood, he was the most beautiful person Calum had ever seen. 

"Ah, Michael," Chiron said, giving him a warm smile. "So glad you could join us." 

"Sorry, sorry. I was all the way at the stables when Serena said you'd called a meeting." Michael sat down across from Calum and slightly to his left. His green eyes met Calum' dark ones and he smiled smally before looking away again. Calum swallowed the now tasteless mush in his mouth and pushed away the rest of the fruit, his appetite leaving him completely as a nauseous feeling settled in instead. He shoved his hands under his legs so he was sitting on them and dug his nails into the underside of his covered thighs. He tried to steady his erratic breathing and focus on anything else besides the images of the pretty boy ( _Michael_ ) dying, but it was hard to do while he ( _Michael_ ) was sitting in front of him looking anything but. Luke, who was sitting to his right, gave him a nervous glance and tried to get his attention without alerting everyone else. He nudged his foot under the table and Calum pulled his gaze from watch Michael to look at Luke with wide eyes, his mouth forming a small ' _o_ '. 

"Calum," He whispered through almost-closed lips. "You're dimming the room. Calm down." Calum tore his eyes away from Michael who was staring at him curiously and looked around himself. It was just a dream, he chats to himself, over and over and over again. The shadows cast from the various lights in the room seemed to be growing and reaching out towards him, each going out farther than possible while the lights themselves were shrinking and dimming. Calum was noticeably sitting in a seat that was now darker than everyone else, as he was almost completely lost in shadows. He closed his eyes and imagined the sun and happiness and anything else he could that reminded him of light, and when he opened his eyes the room was back to normal and Michael was looking at him with wide green eyes. Luke let out a sigh of relief next to him and patted his shoulder proudly before turning back to a heated conversation with a girl with curly brown hair. 

"Can we please get this started?" Calum said, interrupting Chiron from whatever he was saying to a handsome kid with dark skin and dark eyes. Chiron, apparently not knowing what Calum just did to the room around them, blinked in surprise at hearing his voice (Calum didn't talk much) and nodded, patting the girl with purple hair on the arm as an apology--she had a fierce winged eyeliner look going on with silver eyeshadow and a nude lip. Chiron introduced everyone, all the names and godly parents going in one ear and out the other, until he reached Michael. 

"Michael Clifford, son of Aphrodite, goddess of-" 

"-Beauty, love, lust, desire, sexuality, and pleasure." Calum finished for him, staring at Michael openly whose mouth had opened slightly in shock. His cheeks turned a delicate pink color and he nervously licked his red lips. "I know who she is." Calum crossed his arms over his chest and gave Chiron a leveled stare. The camp directors brown eyes glinted and he seemed to be suppressing a smile as the campers around him shifted uncomfortably and looked from Calum to Chiron to Calum to Michael

"How much  _do_  you know about gods and goddesses, Calum?" Chiron asked, leaning his elbows on the table in interest. 

"My mom taught me all about the gods and goddesses—picture books and stuff when I was a kid. I didn't understand any of it fully, but I know the basics." He explained, keeping his eyes on Chiron. 

"The basics being?" Chiron prompted, raising a bushy eyebrow. 

"The names and meanings of the gods and goddesses, the Titans, some monsters, the Fates. Things like that." Calum looked down to his hands and smiled to himself, his heart steady in his chest as his brain whirled with all his favorite legends. "My favorite god was Hades, actually—I even dressed up like him for Halloween." He laughed quietly and glanced up at Michael whose green eyes softened, but seemed guarded. "Which is weird now knowing that he's my dad and all." Thunder rolled around above the Big House, causing Calum as well as a few others to jump slightly in their seats. Chiron glanced upwards and frowned, the lines in his face deepening. 

"You know who your godly parent is?" Some big, ugly, bulky kid asked, the ridicule evident in his voice. "Without officially being claimed?"

"Yes." Calum said simply, his pulse rising slightly. He regarded the kid silently and raised an eyebrow at him. "Why, do you need some help figuring out yours? The size of your ego suggests Zeus, but he wouldn't breed with anything that resembled the likes of you." His eyes sparkled with something dark and mischievous and his mouth pulled up in a smirk as more thunder rumbled above. The guy stood up, knocking his chair over behind him as the veins in his forehead and neck budged out.

"You slimey, undead piece of-" His face was beet red with anger and his eyes bulged comically out of his skull. He was practically foaming at the mouth and crawling over the ping pong table to strangle Calum with his giant hands. 

" _Oooh_ ," Calum cooed, rolling his eyes. "Big boy's bring out the dead jokes!  _Please_  spare us all and say something original for once." Michael stifled a laugh under his hand and Calum did  _not_  feel proud because of it. 

"Enough!" Chiron looked sternly from one boy or another. An apple rolled off the table and onto the floor with a dull thud as Clark removed himself from the table and angrily set his chair back up before plopping into it. "Clark, sit down or leave the room. Calum, why would you go and make the assumption that you're a child of Hades?"

Calum, suppressing his own anger at the fact that anyone would think his godly parent were anyone else, clenched his fists under the table and waited for Big n' Ugly to stop huffing and puffing in his seat. 

"Some... Thing told me in a dream." Calum said after a beat of silence. "She said, and I quote, 'Well well well, son of Hades. You made it just in time to see die.'" He broke off and glared at the table, holding his breath to calm his heart. "And then I don't remember anything else."  _Besides the skeletons and darkness and how everything was coldcoldcold and I was alone and so angry and MichaelMichaelMichael-_

"Who said those things?" Chiron looked at Calum worriedly, and watched the teen struggle with something deep inside himself that was trying desperately to break free.

"A Gigante." Calum forced out, certainly not meeting Michael's eyes. "Periboia, the bane of Aphrodite."

"That's impossible—she was killed in the last war. That's like, no time in reforming years." Michael insisted, his face distraught. "And besides, my mother would've told me." 

"I'm just telling you what I saw." Calum said dismissively. "It was probably just a stupid dream anyway." The campers broke out in conversations among one another, all wide eyed and nervous. Chiron watched Calum with interest as the teen seemed to zone out in a trance as he stared blankly ahead of him. His eyes drooped slightly and his shoulders tensed, while his hands were hidden away under the table. 

"But if it is Periboia, Luke, then that means-" The girl next to Luke started, her high pitched voice getting cut off almost immediately. 

"No, Sarah-Louise. It can't be her. It's barely been three years." 

"Yes, obviously. But he had a  _dream_. Those mean something and you know that." Her voice had a slight accent to it, but it was one that Calum couldn't quite place. Calum glanced at her and noted that she had curly brown hair that framed her face and ended a few inches after her chin did. Her circular blue-green eyes had a fierce emotion in them. Both herself and Luke flailed their hand and arms around while they spoke, the passion in what they thought evident in their voices and body language. 

"Everyone just shut up!" Michael finally yelled, the noise in the room becoming too much as everyone was trying to talk over one another. Strangely, the whole room was eerily quiet all at once, all looking slightly glassy eyed and confused. 

Chiron looked at Michael sternly. "You should know not to use your charmspeak in here." Michael couldn't look more unbothered as he waved the camp director off. 

"I did what had to be done." He said simply, staring at Calum as he cutely blinked back to reality, his brain feeling foggy. 

"I actually have something to show everyone." Ashton finally said, the awkward silence stretching out far too long for his liking. "When Luke, Pixie, and I went to pick up Calum, we kinda, uh," He looked sheepishly at Chiron. "We kinda scared him? And he had a sword that wasn't like any metal that I'd ever seen; only one I'd heard of. He swung at me—the Mist made him think it was a knife—and it cut my cheek and..." Ashton visibly shuddered and rubbed at the think pink mark on his face, his face turning dark. "It felt like my very soul was being sucked out of my body." He shook his head and reached under the table, bringing out the sword that was covered in a dark cloth. "I brought it with me. One, so I could give it back to Calum, and two, because I wanted to show it to everyone." 

As he uncovered the black blade, and everyone in the room--excluding Michael, Calum, and Chiron--leaned back at the sight. Calum looked at Night Fury and smiled slightly. The feeling it gave him made him feel powerful, and not just because he could maim anyone or anything he wanted. Michael, the idiot, hesitantly reached out to touch it. 

"Don't!" Calum said, grabbing the leather hilt and pulling it towards himself, far away from Michaels' reach. The pink-haired boy froze, his eyes wide with shock. "Ashton literally just talked about his soul getting sucked out of him, and you immediately go to touch the damn thing? Do you have a death wish or are you just plain stupid?" Calum exploded, his face hot with anger and his voice shaking with fear. 

"I—I'm sorry, I didn't know." Michael stammered. He retracted his hand and brought to his chest in fear, like he was cradling a sprained wrist. 

"Obviously." Calum snapped, his face clouded. Chiron cleared his throat. Calum glanced at him before looking away again with a scowl on his face, pouting. 

"Well, it seems that's enough chit-chat for the day. You're all dismissed for dinner. Calum, a word please." Calum stayed where he was as everyone shuffled out the room, their whispered words and quick glances making his imagination run wild. His hand gripped Night Fury so tightly his knuckles turned white and he had to stare at the wall beside him to keep himself relatively calm. Michael hung back for a few seconds after everyone else, his expression nervous. 

"Sorry for scaring you." He mumbled, looking embarrassed. 

"You too." Calum looked at him and imagined his face contorted in pain as a sword as thick as a tree trunk was lodged into the middle of his chest before pushing away the thought again. The boy gave a small quirk of his lips and gave him a small wave before he retreated through the door. 

"You have quite a temper on you." Chiron said thoughtfully, scratching his beard. Calum nodded mutely and picked at the side of the table where the paint was chopping slightly. "It reminds me of your father a bit, actually."

"You've met my father?" Calum asked, his heart leaping excitedly in his chest. He met Chirons' eyes and barely concealed his own excitement. "How come he's never checked in with me or anything? Don't the gods have phones or something?" 

Chiron chuckled. "Your father probably has popped into your life before. But, being a demigod, it's dangerous for you. Especially you, being a child of the Big Three. As of meeting your father, I have on a couple of occasions. He's very... Well, I'm sure you'll be seeing each other soon enough." 

"He's coming here? When?" The thought of a god coming down to a camp was hilarious for whatever reason. Much to Calums' dismay, Chiron shook his head. 

"No." Chiron looked uncomfortable, but continued to look at Calum thoughtfully. "You see, being a child of Hades, there are quite a few... Stereotypes put on you by the other campers. That, and your abilities are more difficult to control; especially if you don't know what they all are and what they mean. You can stay here a few weeks, but I highly suggest paying your father a visit." 

"Like in Hell?" 

"Oh, no. Not capital 'H' Hell, but the Underworld. I'm not quite sure where the entrance is, but I'm sure you'll be able to get there by using your sword." Chiron nodded his head to the blade in Calums' death grip. 

"You didn't look surprised when Ashton brought out Night Fury. You've seen this metal before haven't you."

"Why of course I have, Calum. I'm Immortal." Calum blushed at Chirons patronizing voice. "Your half-brother, a demigod by the name of Nico, had one as well. It was longer but not as menacing looking. He could do many things with it. He was powerful in many ways, but weak in others. You, Calum, need to get your anger under control. I can already tell it is your greatest weakness." Calum nodded in understanding and stared at the blade of his sword. 

"What'd you mean by 'he could do many things with it'?" 

"Nico could summon the dead, open crevices to escape to the underworld, and could even harness power with his sword." 

"I've never tried any of that, but I healed the gash on Ashtons' cheek and can sometimes manipulate shadows." Calum thought back to his dream and shuddered. "Uh, I think I can summon skeletons. In my dream, the floor around me turned icy and the temperature dropped a few degrees." 

Chiron made a thoughtful noise and scratched his beard. "Hmmm, I know that Hades himself has Cryikinesis and can heal minor injuries, but I'd never heard of it in his children." 

"Chiron? I don't exactly know what any of that means." Calums' eyebrows screwed together in concentration as he tried to wrap his mind around the information Chiron had just given himself about his father and himself. "Is there a book I can read or something?" 

"I'll have to check in my library, but if I find anything I'll have it dropped off in your cabin." 

Calum nodded slowly and opened his mouth to ask another question, but his stomach jumped up to speak first, causing him to blush. Chiron just smiled at him and motioned for him to stand. 

"You should go eat Calum; you'll need your energy for tomorrow." 

Calum graciously got up with his sword in one hand, and left the room with a small thank you passing from his lips. 

\--=--

"Hiya!" A girl said, walking up to Calum with her plate full of food. She had long blonde hair and light brown eyes—almost a golden color—as well as long blonde lashes. "I can tell from the look on your face that it's your first day here. Need any help figuring out where you sit?" 

Calum shifted his hands from under his plate and nodded silently, giving her a small smile. She beamed at him and gestured to the crowded room, kids bustling around and laughing with one another. 

"Great! All I need is your godly parent so I can lead you to your table." 

"Uh, my dad's Hades." He said, staring at her and waiting for the horrified or scared expression that followed with the name of his godly parent. Instead, her smile just grew.

"Really? Wow, that's super cool; My dad's Apollo. Oh, by the way, the campfire tonight starts at nine o'clock sharp -- I better see you there! We'll have s'mores!" She sing-songed, her voice like tinkling bells. Calum laughed for the first time in days and felt his insides fill up with happiness. "I'm Hara, just so you know." 

"I won't know any of the songs, but that sounds great; I'll be there." He promised as he followed her to the thirteenth picnic bench looking structure topped with a white tablecloth and purple trim. "Oh, and I'm Calum." He said as an afterthought. 

"Well, welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Calum. I'm sure you'll fit right in." He blushed and shook his head lightly, but luckily, she didn't see it.

"Thanks for this." Calum said instead, gesturing to the table. She just smiled and waved his off, balancing her own food in one hand. 

"It's no problem, seriously. I was a new camper once too. Well, we all were." Calum followed her gaze to the buzzing dining pavilion, a warm smile on her face. "The cups are enchanted so you can have whatever you want to drink as long as it's not alcohol. I personally chance it up every meal, but I know campers who only drink strawberry milk, so it's your choice." She looked fondly at a girl with short brown hair who was sipping her cup, totally oblivious that someone had just spoken about her. "Anyways, enjoy your dinner! If you need anything you can find me at table seven," She pointed to a table where a few guys were hanging out around, all with blonde hair and animated personalities. "Oh, and before I forget, everyone gives a portion of our meals in the fire as a salute, or something, to the gods. They like the smell." She pointed to the center of the pavilion where kids walked up and scooped the best looking pieces of their food into the fire and closed their eyes briefly while their lips moved inaudibly. A prayer, Calum realized with a start. 

"Oh." He said, watching with interest as Michael walked up to the fire and pushed his food in. After he opened his eyes, they met Calums' and Michael blushed before turning away and retreating back to his table—just three away from Calum. "That's cool, I guess." 

Hara laughed and patted his shoulder. "It's okay if you find it weird—everyone did at first." Someone called her name and she yelled something back in return, giving Calum an apologetic look. "Welp, I've gotta go. I'll find you at the Campfire later!" And with one final goodbye from Calum, she turned and left. 

Calum looked at the fire and started to hesitantly walk towards it, his hands gripping the sides of his plate. He stood behind a short kid with messy brown hair and glasses and patiently waited as he pushed his food into the fire and mumbled a quick prayer. When it was Calums' turn, he stood in front of the fire warily as he pushed a portion of his food into the bright orange flames. 

 _Hey dad_ , he started while his eyes closed.  _I don't really know anything about you besides what I've read in books, but you seem really cool and I want to get to know you... Okay bye now._

Calum felt like a fool as he turned and left, silently cursing himself for sounding so nonchalant and awkward. He returned back to his table and sat down to eat a silent meal by himself, watching the cabins around him chat and laugh together with a sickly jealousy. The only thing getting him through the lonely dinner was getting to see his mom afterwards. 

\--=--

Joy Hood was a kind woman with soft brown eyes and a wise soul. Her compassion and kind words were one of the many factors to the way Calum acted and talked; authority and kindness, thoughtfulness and compassion. 

Now, she looked at her son with his already darkened personality and deep under eye shadows and felt her heart squeeze sadly in her chest. 

"Hello, love," She said softly, scared that talking too loudly would shatter him. "How are you?" 

"Confused." He simply said, tracing his fingers on the wooden table that divided them. 

Chiron had led them both to a separate room from the bustling rest of the Big House. It was a simple room with light blue walls, dark brown hardwood floors, and a table and chairs. Snacks and Diet Cokes were in the center once again. 

"About what, sweetheart?"

Calum sighed and continued his tracing on the table, his fingers feather light. "I dunno. Everything." He stopped his movements briefly before continuing them again. "The main thing is how I managed to stay undetected for so long. Chiron keeps saying how monsters can smell kids like me. Especially me, since my dad's part of the Big Three. I just don't understand how that all worked out. I mean, I'm eighteen. An adult in demigod age." He looked helplessly at his mother, but she just smiled. 

"Do you remember your 'aunt' Marge? The one with the mole?" Calum nodded, a slightly amused expression filtering over his face. "Well, when I was pregnant with you, your father told me to go to Nebraska. He didn't let me ask why, but told me to trust him. I did, obviously, and ended up in Lexington. There, I met Marge. She told me many things that I still don't understand to this day, but also to always stay in Lexington no matter what." She took a deep breath and looked away from Calum. "She gave me a book with spells in it, telling me what to cast and when to cast it on certain days of the year to make sure your smell and identity was masked. It worked and I watched you grow up without any idea of who you really were." 

"Okay..." Calum said with uncertainty, adding that to the already long list of questions to ask Hades. "What about my sword?" Calum said, gesturing over to where it was leaning against the wall. 

"Oh, that." She smiled ruefully and shook her head slightly. "Your father visited you when you were very young--probably only a few weeks old. He gave it to me and told me to keep it close to me and unclasp it in only when emergencies occurred, and eventually give it to you when you were old enough." She smiled fondly at her son and glanced down to the floor. "He loved you more then life, Calum. Even then, when he barely saw you. He really, truly did." She sniffed at the thought of her old lover and gave Calum a watery smile. "He wrote to me sometimes, you know? Always asking about how your fencing lessons were going or how you were doing in school. It was... Weirdly refreshing. There were a few instances and strangers in the mall where I suspected it was him, but I could never tell because he would be gone in the blink of an eye and would constantly change his appearance." 

Calum, at a loss for words, grabbed his moms hands on top of the table. Joy smiled at him and squeezed his hands. 

"So, about the spells. Did they wear off?" Joy shook her head at his question.

"No, no. The spells were solid. Marge told me herself I could be a powerful if I ever wanted to be. I think... I think that it was your father telling me it was time for me to let you go." She blinked away her tears and looked away before Calum could realize what was happening. "And it is. For now, at least." Calum opened his mouth to tell her no, it wasn't time, he still needed her to help him with everything, but she raised a hand to silence him. "It's dangerous for both of us, Calum. You, because you're so powerful, and myself because of the exact same reason. Chiron, your father, the campers here--they can help you in ways I never will be able to." 

"I still need you." He insisted, tightening his grip on her hands. 

"No, honey. If anything it's I that needs you. You're going to go far, Calum. Gods, goddesses, and monsters aren't my world. It's your world, and it's time for you to take it by the horns and go with it."

Calum listened with his mouth agape as his mother continued talking, not quite listening.  _My whole world just flipped completely upside down,_ he thought bitterly _, and my own mother isn't even going to be a part of it._

\--=--

Calum stood near the outside of the roaring campfire with his hands jammed deep into the pockets of his jeans. The orange and yellow flames shot up twenty feet into the star littered sky. 

He peeked through and around the campers heads (he was  _very_  glad to be a little over six feet tall) and noticed a girl sitting by herself near the flames. She was very pretty, with soft and delicate features, and simple clothing. Yet with her natural attraction, there was an undertone of a strong and defiant beauty. He made his way over to her, as they were both the only two not talking to anyone and he didn't want to be left out. 

Calum sat next to her silently, and watched the flickering flames in front of them, not knowing what to say. 

Eventually, he settled for something simple. "Hi." 

The girl started and looked at Calum with wide eyes that flickered just as much, if not more, than the fire. "Oh. Hello." 

"I'm kinda new here, so I don't really know anyone. Not that they'd want to as my dad's literally death, but." He trailed off awkwardly as the girl started laughing. Her facial features flickered to an older and more mature looking woman's face before settling back on the young girls. 

"They're probably just intimidated by you." She looked at him fully and stared at him intensely. "You are very intimidating, and that's coming from a goddess." She smiled warmly at him, and he felt himself blush under her gaze. "But do not worry, Calum. I, as well as the rest of the gods, know that you are destined for greatness -- should you not fail, that is." 

"What do you mean 'rest of the gods'? Who are you?" He hoped he didn't sound accusatory, and if he did he hoped she knew it wasn't on purpose. 

"I am Hestia." She replied easily. 

"Oh, I know who you are! Well, I read about you in mythology books. My mom said you were her favorite." Calum started at the flames that seemed to glow warmer with his words, and he didn't need to look at Hestia to know she was smiling. 

"That's very kind of her." 

Calum hummed in response and watched everyone around the circle mingle and laugh with one another. 

"Do you ever get, like, lonely?" Hestia regarded him silently for a few minutes before returning her gaze to the flames, an expressionless look on her face. 

"There are days where I long company and companionship more than usual, but no. Not usually." She patted him lightly on his arm. "Worry not, young hero. Soon enough you'll have many friends and forget all about me." 

Calum looked at her unbelievingly as she smiled warmly at him. "Probably not. I mean, you are the first goddess I've ever met." She laughed and Calum joined in, his eyes wondering once again to the fire and campers. The two fell back into a comfortable silence as Calum played with the dirt and small twigs near the flames, creating small designes. 

"Calum!" A familiar voice rang out, catching his attention. "Woohoo, Calum! Over here!" Hara called out, waving her hand that wasn't intertwined with the girl from the dining pavilion high into the air. 

"Can I...?" Calum asked Hesta, gesturing over to Hara. 

"You don't have to ask my permission, Calum. Go have fun." He smiled at her warmly and quickly stood up and walked over to Hara and her girlfriend. 

Hara smiled at him when he sat down next to her and patted his arm as a greeting. "Calum, this is my girlfriend, Ashley. Ashley, this is my friend, Calum." Calum and Ashley exchanged friendly grins around Hara. She was very pretty, with high cheekbones and dark mossy green eyes. 

"Hara told me you're a son of Hades?" Ashley asked uncertainly, and Calum nodded in confirmation. Her eyes widened and her eyebrows shot to her hairline. A grin spread accross her face. "Shit, that's so cool. Can you like, summon the dead or talk to ghosts or anything?" 

"Yeah, probably. I haven't really tried anything besides messing with the shadows a bit." 

Ashley, and Hara for that matter, began flailing around excitedly and demanding that he show them right this instant. 

"Okay, okay, okay." He said while laughing, his heart warming. It was nice that some people actually wanted to be around him. "Here, look at my hands and watch." He shifted his position so that he was slightly in front of the two girls with his back to the flames, and rested his hands palm up on his cris-crossed knees. He imagined a shield running from his left hand to his right hand, and gathered the darkness from the campers and flickering light around them with a slight push. It felt funny, like a slight feather tickling the corners of his mind, but he continued to focus his thoughts on a shield. 

"Now," he said. "One of you hit the space between my hands, but be very-" Ashley, being slightly impulsive and completely destructive, brought her hand down hard in the space between his knees. There was no sound as her hand hit the unseen block, but she immediate brought her hand against her chest and failed to conceal the hurt sound that escaped her mouth. 

"Shit!" She swore, looking at Calum with a pained expression. Calum immediately dropped his hands, a horrified expression on his face. He gasped and felt his eyes widen as Ashley shook her red-palmed hand around. 

"Fuck—I'm so  _so_  sorry! Here, I can take away the pain. God, I'm so sorry." He stuttered out, all of his words rushed and smushed together. He grabbed her hand and focused his energy to take the pain away. He didn't know it was working until a small breath of relief passed through her lips and he felt her arm relax. Calum let go of her hands a moment later and squeezed his eyes shut momentarily to clear the fuzziness that had come around the corners of his vision. 

"I don't—" Calum stopped and looked at Hara and Ashley who were looking at him with wide eyes. "I have to go." He forced out, standing up quickly. "I'm sorry." He said again, looking between the two girls. 

His stomach was in knots as he got to his feet and ignored the calls from the two girls. He felt horrible for causing another person to hurt ( _again_ ) and the fact that it was another accident makes the guilt eat away inside his brain. He quickly pushed past all the smiling and happy campers and kept his eyes trailed on the ground in front of him as he made a quick retreat. 

"Woah!" Someone said, grabbing Calum's shoulders before they could collide with one another. 

"Sorry." Calum muttered, shrugging the person's hand off him. He darted his eyes up to meet Michaels' green ones. He sucks in a sharp breath and feels his cheeks heat up without a warning. Calums' mind flickers like a fast forwarded VHS tape as the gory and horrible images from his nightmare play over and over again in his head. 

"Are you okay?" Michael asks, and Calum want to cry and say that no, he's not. He doesn't understand what he can and can't do and doesn't know why he keeps dreaming the same dream over and over again, only that it scares him half to death everytime he wakes up screaming, and he doesn't understand why Michael is so concerned about him because he's a freak even by demigod standards. 

"I—" he stops once he realises he'd gripped the material of the boys graphic t-shirt and was pressing his fingers into the light flesh of his upper arm.  _You're okay,_ he thinks suddenly, his eyes darting back and forth between Michaels' wide blown ones. They were a soft green in the firelight, with flicks of yellow and blue near his dilated irises. Calum retracts his hands (which,  _thank gods_ , weren't hurting Michael) and awkwardly pats his arms to smooth down his crumpled shirt sleeves. "I'll see you around."

After that, he quickly steps around Michael and sprints to his cabin, not stopping until he is safely under the blood red sheets with his knees tucked into his chest and his eyes squeezed shut.


	2. How to: Kick Some Ass and Achieve Best Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Bathroom Scene, Capture the Flag, and the Cutest Boys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait--I had so MUCH frickin crap in my life happen at once you wouldn't believe. 
> 
> Mistakes r all due to this being 11k wrods long and me being lazy ((: [i think i got most of them but one or two always slip by]
> 
> ENJOY!!!

**Friday, August 3rd, 2015, 6:48 a.m. Hades Cabin, Long Island, New York**

Calum woke up screaming the name of a person he'd barely spoken to for the third day in a row, marking it as the day he declared himself as insane. His heart pounded in his chest, and a cold sweat was causing the hair at the back of his neck to curl slightly. It was the same dream he had the first night, except every time Calum was abruptly woken up from the terrors, it hurt more and more. 

He pushed his sheets off his lap after he sat up and grabbed himself a towel and clean clothes, walking out the door to go to the washrooms. His eyes finally adjusted to the bright sunlight by the time he reached the door of the Shower Room, so he doesn't have to shield his eyes from the blinding sun.

The shower room was the grossest place at camp--in Calums' opinion--with small shower stalls, grimy toilet cubicles, and dirty and rusted mirrors. The tiles on the wall were a blue-grey color with a dirty white matte tile on the floor. The sinks had mirrors above them, and the counter space around them had stains from gods know what in their ceramic bowls. There were little cubbies near the sink to place your clean clothes while you showered so they wouldn't get wet, so Calum plopped his clothes in the one that was his head height. He was alone at the time, but still quickly jumped into the shower stall closest to the wall.

He turned the faucet to get the water running, and waited for the water to warm up before stepping under the warm spray. His forehead met the cool tile on the walls as his shoulders get massaged by the water, and Calum allows himself a moment of relaxation. The last three days had been stressful beyond belief with training, studying, and half of the camp adoring him while the other half resented him (he didn't understand why any of them did either as he hadn't done anything worthwhile).

Calum washed his hair and allowed himself a few more minutes of bliss until the water started to run cold. Staying in the stall, Calum dried off and was about to grab his clothes in the cubby he left them in as the door to the washroom swung open and two voices started talking loudly. Calum griped his towel tighter around his waist as he listened to their voices.

"--it's not even like he's that hot. I mean, have you seen him? Who in their right mind would like someone who looks like death himself? No one, that's who."

"Yeah, what a joke." As the two laughed, Calum peaked through a crack in the stall and glared daggers when he realized it was Travis and Clark, twins of Ares. The two meatheads continued to make fun of Calum as they brushed their teeth and washed their faces, unknowingly trapping Calum in the shower stall.

Calum retreats to the small bench near the door of the stall and sits on it as he waits for the idiots to leave. He doesn't feel like fighting with them (he knows he'll lose) and doesn't know another way out of the bathroom, so he silently waits for them to finish up. Annoyingly enough, they take forever.

"He must think he's so cool with his dad being one of the Big Three." Clark starts, washing off his toothbrush. "If he wasn't, he'd be like every other guy here besides us; nobody."

"I don't know about that," a new voice says, startling Calum. "I mean, he's smart, fast, knows how to fight, and is a hell of a lot hotter than both of you combined." Calum tiptoes over and peeks through the crack in the door to see an unmistakable head of pink hair. A small smile stretches across his lips and he has to bite down on them to keep himself quiet. His cheeks are as bright as his defenders hair. A nice feeling settled into the pit of his stomach knowing that there were people who would defend him for nothing in return.

"Ugh," Travis makes a gross face at Michael and points to the door. "The girls bathroom is on the other side,  _Michelle_."

Calum expects that Michael would get angry at the comment, but instead he laughs and places his hands on his hips, a surprised expression on his face.

"Really? Oh gosh, I guess I saw you two walk in here and thought that this was it! My mistake." He smiles cutely at the two and bats his eyelashes excessively. 

"We're no girls!" Travis insists, his face blotchy and red with anger. It's an ugly look on him, much like it was on Clark a few days prior at the meeting (this may be his hatred for the two talking, but Calum suspects any look on their faces would be ugly).

"My, my, Travis. No need to get so defensive. I won't shatter your poor, fragile masculinity today." Michael talks in a sweet and mocking voice. Both Travis and Clark clench their hands into angry fists at the sound of it, completely forgetting about finishing their morning routine. "And besides, being female isn't an insult. What would your mother think if she heard you speaking like that, huh Travy?"

"What do you want, Clifford?" Clark bites out before his brother can sputter out a reply.

Michael looks at him with a straight face, his green eyes bright and fierce. "I want you to keep your childish opinions to yourselves. It's petty. Not to mention cowardly from children of a war god."

Clark crosses his arms over his chest and glares at Michael. "And what are you gonna do if we don't listen to you? Charmspeak us?"

Michael smiles brightly and nods his head enthusiastically, much to the confusion of Calum. "That's exactly what I'm gonna do. What a great plan, Clark!"

"Fine." Clark rushes out before Michael can even open his mouth again. He glances at Travis. "We'll keep quiet about your  _boyfriend_ , but he better be ready for tonight." The two quickly left after that, pushing past Michael with a brush of their broad shoulders.

Calum waited a few more seconds by the stall door and shivered as the drops on his body slowly begin to cool. Through the crack, he watched Michael shake his head and exhale a large breath. His feet were back farther than the rest of his body as he leans toward the door Michael Jacksom style as to not give away that someone else was in the bathroom eavesdropping. Calum, not realizing how far he was leaning, promptly lost his balance and stumbled into the door of the stall, cursing as his shoulder rammed into the door. Michael jumped at the sudden commotion, and turned quickly to look at the tangled feet just under the stall door.

"Hello? Are you alright?" he asked, his voice sounding too loud in the bathhouse.

Calum groaned softly as he righted his position, one hand rubbing his shoulder while the other kept his towel on his waist. He unlocked the door to the stall and sheepishly stepped out. Michaels' mouth immediately dropped open in shock and the tips of his ears turned bright.

"Hi," Calum says dumbly, his own burning.

"Oh gods," Michael breathed out. "You heard all of that didn't you?" His face was bright red and Calum swore his hair turned a tad bit brighter as well.

"I can say I didn't if it makes you feel better?" Calum grinned sheepishly at him and rubbed the sore spot on his shoulder. Michael looked at him incredulously and shook his head, a small smile creeping onto his face.

"No, it's alright. I'm just," he waved his hand around the room and shrugged. "Taken aback, is all. I'm Michael, by the way."

"Calum." The two stood awkwardly for a few beats until Caulm realized that he was naked aside from the thin blue towel wrapped around his waist. Michaels eyes roamed over his body and lingered at the tattoos on his arms and chest, the interest in them apparent. Calum felt his cheeks flame up and he pointed to his clothes. "I'm gonna get dressed now. Thanks for--everything, I guess."

Michael smiled. "No problem. I'll uh, see you around?"

"Yeah, see ya." Calum stared dumbly after his retreating frame as he left, noting that he left without doing whatever he came in to do in the first place.

\--=--

"There's another camp like this?" Calum wondered aloud, looking up from the text he was reading to address Luke.

"Kinda? Not really though." Calum looked at Luke impatientlyq until he continued. "The Romans have all these different morals and names from everything that we, the Greeks, have. For instance, Hades' Greek form is different from Pluto, his Roman form. The different forms also have different personalities." Luke paused and regarded Calum, as Calum was staring intensely into his eyes. Today, Lukes' eyes were more a baby blue, but they were deep with knowledge and looked to be always whirring with information. Luke blinked at Calum a few times, but marked off the blank stare as another one of Calums' quirks and continued to talk.

"The Greek culture came first--about a millennium before the Romans. The truth is, the Romans just adopted the idea of having gods and goddesses from the Greeks, but to give them a sense of uniqueness and individuality, they somewhat changed the names of the Greek deities. Except for Apollo, whose name is practically the same for both cultures. You know all of the Greek gods and goddesses already, but the first fourteen Roman ones are Jupiter, Neptune, Vesta, Mercury, Juno, Vulcan, Pluto, Liber, Ceres, Minerva, Diana, Mars, Apollo, and Venus."

Calum furrowed his eyebrows together. "Wait, so the Romans named them all after planets and stars? Talk about egotistical."

Luke laughed loudly at that, his voice coming out in little giggles that he covered up with his hands. "No-o," he said, this voice choppy through his laughing. "The stars and stuff were named after the gods and goddesses. To honor them, or something."

"Honor." Calum repeated. Luke hummed and stared at Calum for a few seconds before shrugging and returning back to the text in his lap.

"You should get back to your reading." He said, back in his tutor mode.

"Key word:  _should_." Calum groaned and flopped back on the rock they were sitting on, his skin warming in the morning sun. He was naturally tan from his mother's side, but his skin was getting darker and darker everyday. He even had to wear tank tops to avoid getting a farmers tan. "Greek is hard." Calum complained, covering his eyes with his arm.

"Yep, which is why you need to keep studying and reading it." Luke threw the book Calum was reading onto Calums' stomach, causing the tan boy to choke on the air he had just breathed in. "How did you even graduate high school?"

Calum glared at him from under his arm. "That was rude." He told him, grudgingly sitting back up. "I studied by ass off and my mom read through chapters of whatever reading I needed to get done while I took notes. I also went to a dyslexia teacher once a week to help me with reading and writing tips. I graduated with a 3.6 GPA, thankfully."

"Damn, I couldn't stand reading in English. Don't get me wrong, I loved to learn, but it honest to gods hurt my brain. Everything floated around and drove me absolutely insane."

"True, true." Calum muttered. He sat up slightly and looked at Luke hopefully. "Can we like, gossip or something? I can't make friends without knowing all the dirt on everyone."

Luke chewed on his lip and glanced around. "Fine. But do not tell  _anyone_  I did this." He warned, looking sternly at Calum.

"Cross my heart, Lu." Calum grinned brightly which caused Lukes' stern look to crack as well. It was hard not to smile at Calum when he looked at you like you told him Christmas was coming early. "Let's go!" He said excitedly, completely abandoning his book and getting to his feet. He grabbed Luke and lifted his lanky body as well.

"Okay, okay! I'm up!" Luke laughed and dusted off his shorts. He motioned along Calum, who followed him like a puppy, back to the trail to the more populated places at camp.

Everyone had their morning activity which ranged from the Stables to the Arena, the Climbing Wall to Arts and Crafts. Calum and Luke were just getting to the arts and crafts area when Calum pointed out his first interest.

"Who's that?" Calum asked, pointing at a young boy--the youngest he'd seen at camp. He had shaggy blonde hair and pale green eyes.

"That's Henry. His parent is Hecate." Luke scratched his cheek and continued, looking slightly uncomfortable. "He was dropped off here one night, just outside the border; I was the one who found him actually. Whoever left him just wrapped him in this tattered blue blanket and ran. I assume it was his father, but who knows."

"Oh." Calum looked on sadly as a girl with red and blonde hair picked him up and spun him around, his childish giggles loud and joyous. "What about her?" He asked, pointing to a random girl to get his mind off the little boy.

"Hmm? Oh, that's Mel." Calum listened to his description of the girl and nodded as they continued walking. The sun was high in the sky and made their figures cast long shadows on the grass as they walked. Luke would glance around every so often as if to make sure they wouldn't get in trouble.

"Who're those girls?" Calum asked as they walked inside the Arena (it was mainly used for sword practice). There was a lot going on. Kids were sparring with one another, practicing on dummies, and firing arrows into moving targets. Everything was completely chaotic and crazy, and Calum was in love.

"Oh! That's Sarah-Louise and Amanda." He said. Sarah-Louise was the girl Calum saw Luke talk to at the meeting, and Amanda was the one next to Chiron with bright purple hair. "SL is in the Nemesis cabin, while Amanda is in Dionysus. Sarah-Louise and are I actually co-captains for capture the flag tonight. I'm pretty sure you'll be on our team because we got absolutely annihilated last week... And the week before that, even."

Both girls looked like they were talking more than actually training, as they had stopped and were giggling to one another. Luke pulled Calum to the stands where they could watch everyone. Occasionally, Luke would point someone out and tell Calum about them, but for the most part they were both content in sitting next to one another silently.

"Hey," Calum said, once again breaking the silence that had come over the two. "What do you know about Michael?"

"Clifford?" Calum shrugged his shoulders, then nodded. "He's in Aphrodite, he's cute, has colored hair, nice teeth." Luke thought of something before continuing. "He's more of a lover than a fighter--a pretty stereotypical trait for a child of Aphrodite. Really outgoing and happy the majority of the time. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. Just struck me as an interesting character." Calum fiddled with his fingers and with the cloth bracelets on his wrists.

"Wanna go talk to Amanda and SL?" Luke changed the subject, noting the obvious interest Calum had in Michael.

"Sure."

Amanda saw them walking up before they actually got there, so they met each other halfway and made introductions thanks to Luke.

"You're the one with the cool sword, right?" Sarah-Louise asked, her accent foreign. It was sweet and pure sounding--somewhere Irish or British, Calum guessed. Calum nodded and patted the knife that Ashton had modified in his pocket. The day previous, Ashton and some guy from the Hecate cabin (goddess of magic and all) had made the sword retractable into the small pocketknife it once was under the mist. All Calum had to do was say open and close in Greek to get it back to the wanted size (Calum hugged Ashton once he'd presented his present, a huge smile on his face. It was the first hug he'd given in months that wasn't his mother, but Ashton hugged him back all the same and told him not to worry about it when Calum continuously mumbled thankyou over and over and over again).

Calum fished it out from the pocket of his black jeans and quietly muttered, "Ανοικτή." The blade and hilt of the knife grew in shape and size before it was the evil piece of metal back in its original glory. All of the blue toned eyes in the group widened as Calum showed off the sword, his lips drawn in a small smile.

"Wicked." Amanda breathed her tone appreciative. Both SL and Luke nodded.

"How're you with a sword?" Sarah-Louise asked, her eyes bright, like she was trying to hold back her excitement.

"I took fencing back in Nebraska since I was eight, and Ashton has been training me in his free time to get me up to speed with everyone else. He doesn't let me use Night Fury, though." SL made a noise of approval and looked at Luke who was already looking at her.

"Right, well." She stepped back towards the ring and directed Calum with her sword to a spot. "Let's see what you've got, then."

Calum hesitantly came toward her, his sword held limply at his side. "Are you sure? If I cut you something bad could happen."

"Use the flat side of your blade to strike then." She dismissed him and got in a ready stance. Her chest and stomach were covered by bronze armor and her sword was simple and shining brightly under the bright lights in the arena. She was in black athletic pants, the Orange camp shirt (no one had to wear it but still did), and running shoes. Calum on the other hand had on no armor, black skinny jeans, a black tank-top, his pair of plain vans, and his gleaming sword gripped in his hand.

She gave him a brilliant smile before swinging out her sword. Calum instinctively brought up his own, they clashed, and the fight begun.

Sarah-Louise was a quick fighter with jabs and slices before going back into defense, her heels raised on the ground as she bounced on the pads of her feet. She was small but strong, a smooth arch of her sword with every strike.

"C'mon, Calum," she taunted, a glint in her blue eyes. "Is that the best you can do?"

Normally, Ashton would say similar things when they sparred, but with a more helpful tone like he was actually wondering and trying to encourage him. The tone of voice she used however, made Calum clench his jaw and push back on her harder as he transitioned from defense to offense. His sword met hers and the metals clashed together, causing Luke to jump away somewhere off Calum's left shoulder.

Calum had his sword gripped tightly in his right hand while his left was out to balance himself. She hit Calum on his left hand, which was sure to bruise later, and Calum twisted his sword around as their blades met, hoping to make her lose her grip.

Sweat formed on Calum's forehead and dripped into his eyes as Sarah-Louise continued to push him. His arms felt heavy and his movements became sloppier and sloppier, until she twisted her blade expertiestly against Calum's and the leather hilt slipped from his sweaty grip.

The tip of her sword was pressed lightly into the center of his neck, and he swallowed around the blade. His adams apple bobbed uncomfortably around the point, and his chest rose and fell with each breath he took.

"Nice job," SL told him, putting her sword into the holder in her belt. "You'll be a great asset to the team."

"Thanks." Calum muttered, bending down to pick up his blade. His arms felt like lead, and he quickly shrunk his blade and stuffed it into his pocket. Amanda and Luke, who were previously talking, gave them both a cup of water.

"Dude, that was fucking ace!" Luke told him, his smile bright. "I know  _just_  what to do with you for Capture the Flag."

\--=--

Calum drew small patterns into the dirt with his sword as he listened to the excitement around him. Capture the Flag was currently being played, but Calum was stuck on the defense with strict orders from both Luke and SL. He wasn't wearing any type of protective armor because it weighed him down and made him feel unbalanced every time he raised his sword.

Deep laughter run out from somewhere in the woods in front of him and Calum scowled at the ground. It seemed like everyone was having fun but him. The laughter got louder, but there was also the sound of a higher pitched voice crying out. Calum looked around. His teammates were all poised and ready to fight, but Calum didn't feel as though anyone was coming anytime soon.  He quickly stepped over the boundary line and followed the voices into the woods without looking back (and the looks his teammates were sending him could curdle cheese, so he was in luck).

Calum creeped up to a slight clearing in the woods, and hid behind a tree as he watched Trevor and Clark toss a helmet back and forth between them and over the top of Henry's head (the small child from the Hecate cabin). Henry was jumping with all his might between them to catch the helmet, but they easily passed the gleaming bronze between them. Their swords were tossed lazily on the ground, almost as if they didn't expect to be bothered by anyone important enough to be needing them.

Calum clenched his fists tightly and glared at them. Everything about these two annoyed Calum to the core, and he wanted nothing more than to knock them down a few pegs. They acted as if they were better than everyone else and did no wrong--like Zayn Malik, if you would.

The ground around the weapons seemed to dip slightly, before the bronze metals slowly began sinking into the ground with every thought Calum had against Clark and Trevor. Something clicked in Calum's mind as he watched the swords get swallowed up by the earth, and he grinned to himself as he knew exactly what to do with the bullies.

Calum looked at Trevor and closed his eyes to focus on forming a box like shape around Trevor's large head. There was a pull at his gut, and Calum opened his eyes to watch with pleasure as Trevor's eyes glazed over and his face went from malicious, to confused, to full fled panic.

"I can't see!" Trevor screamed, and the bronze helmet fell from his hands, clanging to the ground at his feet. Henry dashed forward and scooped up his helmet, his eyes bright with worry and confusion as Clark and Trevor started freaking out. The pull at Calum's gut kept the darkness around Trevor's head solid so he couldn't see, and the tan boy mentally high-fives himself for being so clever.

Calum catches the young boys eye and winks at him with a big smile on his face. Henry stares at him with confused eyes before it dawns on him, and he grins back with a laugh on his lips.

"Is something funny, punk?" Clark growled, gripping Henry by his t-shirt collar. Calum ground his teeth together and stepped out of the tree line just as Henry starts his stuttered reply.

"N-no. I was just-"

"Leave him alone, Clark." Calum interrupted, his glare deep and his sword gripped tightly in his hand. "He didn't do anything to you."

Clark dropped Henry and cracked his knuckles as Trevor--still blind as a bat--clenched his jaw at the sound of Calum's voice. Henry runs off, fast, toward the trees.

"Who are you trying to be? A hero?" Calum squared his jaw at Clark's taunts.

"No," Calum said simply, twisting his sword in his hands. He grinned at Clark evilly and gave Trevor back his sight with the wave of a hand. "I'm just being me. Which is," he started, a new idea popping into his mind. "An asshole."

Calum stabbed the ground with his blade, the grassy surface splitting open like butter. There was the pull at his gut again, a slightly painful one at that, but Calum pushed on through it. A fissure of pure black energy is formed, and two skeleton warriors climb out, their jaws clinking together and their eyes a beady yellow. With the wave of his hand, Calum released Trevor from his blindness, and pulled his sword from the ground. The fissure closed with the sound of two rocks being smashed together.

Trevor blinked a few times before swearing as the two skeletons stood daringly at Calum's sides. One of them was dressed in a U.S Navy uniform, while the other had on an old Greek Armor set (complete with a red plume helmet). Both had long gleaming swords of Celestial Bronze. Trevor and Clark both looked frantically for their swords as Calum shook his head in mock sadness and checked his fingernails for dirt.

"I didn't think you two would need those, so I took the liberty of sending them to the Underworld. Don't worry--I can send you anytime to get them back." He grinned deviously at the two shocked boys and wiggled his fingers at them in warning. The skeletons clicked their jaws next to him and Calum glanced at them before his eyes met Trevor's. He sighed dramatically and pointed at the sons of Ares, his brown eyes dark with power.

Calum grinned. "Fetch."

The skeletons immediately took off with their swords raised and both of the demigod boys let out strangled cries. They took off towards the creek somewhere to their left and disappeared into the trees, hollering all the way. Calum twisted his sword and grinned at the running forms, his spirits lifted now knowing that the bullies wouldn't bother him or anyone else in his proximity anymore. 

"Thank you, thank you,  _thank you!"_ A small voice said, rushing up from behind Calum and hugging his middle. Calum looked down at Henry in surprise and patted his head, smiling down at the grinning boy.

"It was my pleasure, Henry." Calum said, giggling softly as the boy gaped up at him.

"You know my name?!" He asked excitedly. Henry seemed to realize that he was seven and  _not_  five, and he jumped back from Calum and tried to cool his expression.

"Of course I do," Calum said, ruffling his golden hair. "I know all the names of the bravest and coolest campers here." Henry giggled at that, and covered his mouth with his hands. He had a little wooden sword strapped to his waist and silver armor on (Calum assumed it was lighter).

"I've gotta get back to Kay-Kay!" He said suddenly, darting forward to hug Calum one last time. Calum squeezed him back briefly, before the little man was dashing back off into the woods somewhere.

Calum smiled to himself and continued his walk into the forest as he looked for the flag. He body basked in the shadows and he felt himself regain strength as he continued through the forest as his energy replenishing on its own accord. There was another break in the trees where another demigod was stationed. Calum raised his sword to attack, but lowered it once he realized who it was.

"Oh," Calum said, looking at Michael as he sat in the middle of a patch of wildflowers. "Hi."

"Hello." Michael said as he studied the daisy he'd just plucked from the Earth, glancing at Calum once. "You know, if your zombie things maim those two you'll get your dessert privilege taken for a week."

Calum just stared at him, his heart fluttering strangely in his chest. "I don't eat dessert."

"Hmm," Michael said, feeling the flower petals between his fingers, "I guess you're in the clear then."

Calum, resisting the urge to sit down with him, shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Aren't we supposed to like, fight? You're on the blue team right? I just eliminated two key players; you should be avenging them."

Michael laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners, and put the flower in the small pile he'd assembled. "Avenging them? Nah--they were dicks. I'm glad you scared them, actually. I mean, who messes with a kid for fun?" Michael shook his head and held a hand out. Calum pulled him up wordlessly and Michael dusted off his jeans. "And you're not, by the way."

"Uh," Was Calum's amazing reply.

"I mean, you're not an asshole." Michael said, a smile forming on his face. Calum felt his heart stutter in his chest and bit his bottom lip to keep himself from smiling.

"Then what am I?"

"I'll let you know when I figure that out for myself." Michael said, examining him with his too-knowing green eyes. "Right," he said, clapping his hands together. " _You've_  got to go and win this, and  _we've_  got to make it look like you fought me and I lost miserably."

"Uh," Calum said again as he stared open mouthed at the boy with pink hair.

"Ooh, I know! Punch me!" Michael ruffled up his clothes and tossed his knife a few feet from himself before looking at Calum expectantly and pointing to the side of his face. "C'mon, let's go. And don't make it a lame one--I want this to bruise."

"I don't feel comfortable doing this." Calum deadpanned, shaking his head.

"It's fine!" Michael reassured, stepping towards Calum. "Just lay one on me. I'll heal by Monday--no hard feelings!"

Calum stared at Michael, his dark eyes softening as they met green. Michael looked so sincere and trustworthy that Calum had to look away (if he didn't he'd probably do something stupid, like ask him if he could touch his soft-looking hair. Gods, Calum was already smitten). There was the light in the center of Michael's chest like he'd seen with Ashton, except brighter. Pure. To keep himself from reaching out and touching him (again) he closes his hands into fists and nods once.

"Okay, I'll do it." Calum says warily, closing his sword and clipping the now-knife into the belt loop of his jeans. "Sorry in advance." He apologizes, before rearing back and catching Michael off guard by punching his cheek.

"Ow!" Michael swore, his hands immediately going to his face. He closed his eyes and moved his jaw around for a few counts before blowing out a gust of air. "Okay. I'm good. Now," he said, sitting back down on the ground and positioning his body to where it looked believable. "Go and win the game for me."

Calum stared at Michael, his face a mixture between astonishment and amazement, and brought his sword back out from his belt. Defense would have to be fine for a while longer, apparently.

"Find me at the campfire later." Michael said, his eyes closed as he laid on the ground.

"Alright, Michael. See you later."

"Bye, Calum."

Calum gave the boy one more soft smile (not that he noticed with his eyes closed) before following the sounds of metal clanking and kids shouting. Calum saw the blue flag before he saw the team's defense, so when a kid a foot shorten than him hit him with the flat side of his blade, the air was successfully knocked out of Calum.

Luke and Sarah-Louise were fighting their own battles as they crept closer and closer to the flag. Both had long, slender swords and gleaming gold breastplates. Calum could already feel the side of his ribs bruising from the impact, but he grit his teeth together and looked down at the kid who hit him.

Calum sparred with the short Hispanic kid who hit him, and winced every time he leaned too far on his left side--the spot was probably already a dark purple. The kid was dressed in the breastplate and horse plume helmet which was great for defense, but made him slower on offense. Calum used this as his advantage as he easily dodged his slices and moved around slashes.

Lights out, he thinks before blinding him in a similar way that he did Trevor. The kid (who Calum doesn't even know the name of) gasps and stiffens, before Calum hits him over the head with the hilt of his sword and watches him crumple to the ground.

Luke disarms his own opponent just as Calum runs up to help, and makes a dash for the flag. His long legs make it in a few strides, and he grips the blue fabric before yanking it from its position dangling in a tree. He looks at Calum with a wide grin on his face before shouting a quick "Back me up!" and rushing off towards the border.

Calum caps his sword and sprints after him, his own long legs catching up with him as they race through the forest. Long afternoons of aftershock cross country practice help him out greatly as he keeps pace with Luke easily, grinning all the way. Their hair sticks up as they run with the blue flag flapping brilliantly behind them, and once they reach the home stretch, Luke let's out an excited whoop.

Calum could hear other kids running behind and next to them, but he continued behind Luke. The two splashed into the creek as the majority of both teams realized what was happening, and a bunch of the kids stop fighting altogether to stare and gape. Cheers ring out as kids gathered around Luke and the now shimmering silver banner with the symbol for the tenth cabin displayed proudly on it.

"What happened to staying on defense?" Calum turned at Sarah-Louise's voice and shrugged bashfully, failing to come up with an excuse. "Well, I'm glad you didn't listen; We would've lost otherwise." She punched Calum on the shoulder before squeezing her way next to Luke and jumping around cheering with him.

Chiron gallops up, his bottom half a brilliant white horse, and blows into a horn. With the signal, the game is over, and the red team has won.

\--=--

Calum smiled at Hestia as he stood near the fire, and she nodded in acknowledgment before returning to tending the flames. The red team was unusually chatty tonight, with Luke leading the campfire songs rather enthusiastically as Hara and the rest of the Apollo cabin pretended to gag and cover their ears. Ashton was sat next to him, his curls splayed wildly framing his face, and grinned while singing along. His eyes never left Luke (nor did his right hand, Calum noticed, which was intertwined with Lukes' left).

Calum moved away from the bright flames and sought out Michael. He weaved in and out of the loud campers, and tried not to tense up every time someone accidentally knocked into him or jostled him. Calum ducked behind a few kids in the Hermes cabin when he caught sight of a few of the Ares campers surrounding Trevor and Clark who were both sporting bruises on many parts of their bodies.

Calum kept his head bent down and tried to keep the smirk from his face as he listened to them complain, but ultimately failed when hearing them retell what happened to them in a dramatic and photoshopped version. He smiled and turned away before he could draw any attention to himself by pointing out the plot holes in their telling.

Calum saw Michael before Michael saw him. He was sat on a log with his head in his hand that was pressing a cold pack to his cheek (the one Calum punched). He was listening as one of his cabin mates (a guy with dark skin and darker hair) talked animatedly and reenacted an event dramatically by waving his arms around and using over-exaggerated facial expressions. Calum smiled at the teen (he thought his name was Aaron but wasn't positive) and walked around the crowd to get closer to the cabin. Calum approached the Aphrodite cabin slowly and gave them all small nods in greeting.

"Hullo," he said to Michael. The teen was already looking up at him. "I've found you."

"So you have." Michael replied, wincing at the pain in his cheek when he tried to smile. He gave the ice to one of his cabin mates (Cynthia, maybe? Calum is horrible with names) and got to his feet, gesturing for Calum to follow him. "Let's go somewhere quieter." He suggested, grabbing Calum by the sleeve of his jacket and pulling him out of the crowd.

Calum shuffled his feet silently along and allowed Michael to pull him towards the Canoe Lake. The night sky was twinkling with stars and scattered fuzzy-looking clouds; the moon wasn't quite full, but still gave out enough light that Calum could see Michaels' soft features. The night air was cool and a slight breeze ruffled Calums' curly hair every so often.

The grip on his hoodie was tight, but loose enough that Calum could shake Michael off if he wanted to. He didn't mind, so the hand stayed. Michael let go once they reached the lake and he climed to the top of a rock rather gracefully. At the top, he waited for Calum to follow suit as he watched with interest.

"How's your cheek?" Calum asked once he'd settled onto the cool surface of the grey rock. They were sat criss-crossed facing once another. The bruise on Michaels' face was a dark purple, with hints of green and blue around the edges as it softened out. It was mostly on his cheekbone--near his eye--and it even puffed out a bit. Calum bit his lip as he looked at it and twisted his shirt in his hands anxiously.

Michael shrugged. "It's alright. Hurts a bit if I'm being honest, but no one suspects that I let you go by me." He made it sound like Calum did him a favor in punching him, and Calum hated that immensely.  

"You know I could like, heal you, right?" Calum gestured to the purple bruise with his hand and Michael cocked his head to the side, his eyebrows creasing. "I dunno how to explain it, but I could if you'd let me." At Michaels small nod of consent, Calum scooted forward until their knees were touching. With his left hand he tilted Michaels face around to get a feel for the mark, and tried to take as little notice as he could to the way his green eyes became darker.

Calum lightly cupped his cheek with his right hand and closed his eyes. He imagined Michael's clear porcelain skin and pushed past the slight and familiar pull in his gut. His hand pushed a little harder into Michaels' cheek and he . Michael melted into his hand with a sigh of relief as he felt the pain melt away and the throbbing disappear completely.

Calum opened up his eyes and retracted his hand to get a look at Michael's now clear skin. He moved his face around to check the surface, and felt pride swell up in the pit of his stomach knowing he relieved Michael of some of his pain (albeit he was the one who hurt him in the first place).

"There," He said softly, his fingers ghosting over the spot where the bruise was until he propped his hands behind him to sit back on them. Michael pressed his fingers into his cheek and smiled brightly at Calum.

"That was so cool!" He gushed, looking at Calum with bright eyes. "Can you do anything else besides that and summoning shit?"

"I'm honestly still finding out for myself, but I blinded Trevor earlier and can make shields of darkness. I'm still learning and making stuff up as I go, but when I step in shadows or when it's dark out, everything is effortless." Calum shrugged nonchalantly to not sound cocky, and Michael scoffed at him and playfully nudged his shoulder. "Can you do anything?"

"Well, now that you ask," Michael started in a goofy voice, causing Calum to giggle and shove him playfully. "I do this thing with my hair--it's completely useless, but cool nonetheless."

Calum perked up. "What thing with your hair?"

Michael looked slightly embarrassed--bashful even--and shrugged off Calum's question, a blush rising to his cheeks.

"Come on," Calum pressed, knocking his knees with Michaels. "You can show me--I'm the easiest person to impress in the world."

"Okay, fine. But," Michael cracked, "tell me your favorite color, first."

After a very hesitant reply of "red" from Calum, Michael nodded in appreciation, closed his eyes, and got a concentrated look on his face. Calum stared at him in wonder and his pulse lept excitedly under his skin. They could hear the sounds of the campfire and the monsters and bugs hiding in the darkness of the forest, but it was still peaceful.

Calum allowed himself to rake his eyes over Michael's face without the fear of him catching him eating away at his mind. Ever since the first time Calum saw Michael, he'd always though the other boys soft and almost girlish features were enchanting. His cheeks were round and almost always had a soft pink tint to them--like cotton candy. His eyes sparkled when he laughed or talked animatedly, and there were deep crinkles in the corners with laugh lines around his cherry-red mouth.

Calum stared a few seconds longer, and almost jumped in surprise when Michael's bright green eyes were suddenly blinking open and looking into his brown ones.

"Watch this." Michael told him softly, blinking slowly. Calum perked up slightly and looked at him with interest. He didn't quite know what he was looking or waiting for, but nodded anyway. Nothing really eye-catching happened at first, but then his hair started growing darker at the roots. The color crept up his bright green hair until all that was left was a vibrant red color. The way the color sprouted up was similar to the videos he used to watch in biology class--the ones with the plants growing from the ground in slow motion while symphonic pieces played in the background.

"Woah," Calum breathed, his eyes wide and appreciative.  He reached up a hand to touch the soft looking fire-red hair, but stopped and blushed once he realized what he was doing. "Sorry."

"You're fine! You can touch it of you want." Michael told him, laughing slightly. He threaded his fingers together and leaned forward a bit so Calum didn't have to reach as far to run his hands through the red mess on his head.

The black-haired teen brought his hand up again and slowly ran is fingers through Michaels' hair. It was silly how easily Calum became entertained with the way his tan fingers disappeared then reappeared through the thick red mass. Calum smoothed through a few tangles without Michael wincing in pain, and Michael even sighed contently at the feeling of his head being massaged.

"Honestly, that's was cooler than anything I could even dream of doing." Calum told him, retracting his hand. Michael rolled his eyes.

"Okay, whatever skull boy." Michael knocked their knees together, grinning. "Everyone loved that you gave the meathead duo a taste of their own medicine, by the way; their own cabin wouldn't even help them out! Chiron finally had to shoot the damn things with his special arrows to get them to go away. Then, the skeletons just stopped, looked at him, and went back into the forest. It was truly amazing."

Calum lightly pressed his knees into Michaels' and felt his heart swell with pride. "Good. They gave me hell from the moment I arrived--it serves them right."

"They give everyone hell--that's their thing. The only reason they don't bother me is because I can tell them to do anything and they have to do it."

"How?" Calum asked, the word charmspeak floating around in his mind.

"It's called charmspeak, which is an ability only children of Aphrodite can possess. Up until me, males weren't believed  to get the gift--which is kinda scary."

"So you basically tell people what to do and they do it?"

"Pretty much." Michael said, leaning back on his hands. A soft breeze carried the voices from the campfire to them and ruffled their hair. Calum blew the strands of his hair that fell into the eyes and nodded appreciatively at Michael's talent. If he could change his hair color on demand, he'd do it everyday just to freak people out.

"Before I learned to control the hair thing," Michael continued, "and this was when I was a baby, mind you, it would change color with my emotions or whenever I saw something that made me excited. It really freaked my teachers out." Michael added, giggling at the thought of his pre-school days.

"Oh gods, I  _hated_  school." Calum wrinkled his nose as he thought about his school days--thankfully he ended those in May. "For whatever reason my teachers  _loved_  to pick me to read aloud for the class. It was torture every single time."

"Yes!" Michael exclaimed, sitting up at the mention that he and Calum had gone through similar things. "I'd only been in public school for a few years before I was like 'nah, this isn't for me.' My dad dropped me off here a few weeks after that. That was... Ten years ago?" Michael played with the beads around his neck and did the math in his head, "yeah, ten years."

Calum watched the beads twirl around the cloth necklace, their bright colors blurring together. Some of the beads had symbols on them, while others had small words written on them. They were no bigger than the beads you could buy in a craft store, but they were made from a clay. Calum ghosted his fingers over the ball chain and dog tags around his own neck, the cool metal plates clinking together under his shirt and sticking to his skin.

He'd found the necklace one day--while he was on a run--half  buried in the dirt. It was old and rusted (at that time, at least), and when he showed it to his mother she almost told him off for even daring to pick it up. Instead, Joy Hood told him home remedies to get the rust off and fondly watched him over making dinner as he scrubbed away at the dirt and grime with an old dishrag. The words _"Henry Stratford, 1921-1943"_ and _"Isabel Holland-Stratford 1923-1943"_ were visible once the rust was cleared--Calum felt a weight settle into his 14 year old stomach as he read the names to himself before slipping the chain around his neck and under his shirt. Now, Calum fished the dog tags from under his shirt and rubbed over the names with his thumb and forefinger. 

"Do you still talk to your dad?" Calum wondered aloud, thinking of his own mother and how everything was changing so quickly.

"Yeah, we write. Email. Sometimes call if he's not with his wife or normal kids." Michael watched Calums' hands with lidded and tired eyes. "We spend the day together on birthdays and holidays when we can. I mostly stick here, though."

Calum nodded his head in understanding and subconsciously rubbed his mother's initials tattoo in thought. He realized what he was doing when Michael pointedly looked at his hands and blushed before showing off the tattoo with a sheepish grin.

"They're my mothers initials." Calum explained, the letters  _JKH_  in typewriter print exposed proudly on his skin. "I was planning to get my dad's when I figured out who he was, but probably not now."

"That's sweet. Do you have any others?" Michael asked, looking from Calums' hand to his soft brown eyes.

(If Michael had to think of a word that described Calum in the moment, it'd be soft. From his curly black hair to his hoodie and worn in vans; from the circles under his eyes to his bitten nails. Calums' voice was soft, yet held a slight rasp to it that warmed Michael from the inside out.)

"Uh, yeah." Calum said, tearing his eyes away from Michael's face to shrug off is jacket. His tan skin gave way to goosebumps as the black hoodie was discarded to reveal the few pieces of artwork on his biceps and forearms.

His mother had let him get his first at seventeen, so the oldest (black ink reading  _skywards_ ) was about a year old. The rest were random things he'd liked--an Indian chief, a bird, a horseshoe for good luck, and a feather to name a few.

"What's that?" Michael asked, pointing up towards the inside part of Calums' left arm. He pushed up the sleeve of Calums' shirt and angled his arm to see the artwork in the moonlight, his pale fingers a ghostly white against foreign tan skin. The tattoo was no bigger than a quarter, with milky greys and blacks swirled together. "A planet?" Michael guessed, running his thumb over the smooth skin.

"Yeah-" Calum cleared his throat and smiled slightly at Michael when the teen looked up from touching his skin. "Pluto, actually."

 _"Bull!"_ Michael exclaimed, disbelief laced in his voice.

"Nope," Calum denied, "I got it a month ago--after those new photos came out and the little guy was considered a planet again. I've always loved space and used to get so mad when my teachers didn't call Pluto a planet, so when I got the news I went to my tattoo parlor and got the little guy permanently etched on my skin." Calum smirked at Michales shocked face and moved the others hand away from his arm so he could get a better look at the art.

"That's so  _dorky_." Michael mused, smiling at Calum fondly as he examined the ink on his skin. "How cute of you, Calum Hood."

"Why, thank you, Michael Clifford." Calum blushed, hoping the moon wasn't bright enough to see the red on his cheeks or the tips of his ears. "What about your tattoos?"

The two spent the rest of the evening talking and joking about their tattoos and of anything else that came to mind. Calum thought he could easily fall into a best-friendship with the red haired teen's whirlwind attitude and sparkling emotions. Michael was easy to talk to and made conversation--something Calum was slightly awkward at--easy and simple.

Soon enough, the noises from the campfire dulled down, and Calum and Michael watched the worn out campers return to their respective cabins. Everyone looked small from so far away, but their movements were clear. There were sleepy hugs and kisses on cheeks passed amongst friends, and friendly pats on the backs from neighboring cabins. Eventually, the eldest campers who idled around the shrinking fire retreated back to their cabins as well, their hearts warm and full with friendship and love.

"What time's curfew?" Calum found himself asking, looking back at Michael.

"Now, I'm guessing." His voice was gruff and tired, and Calum suddenly felt a pang in his chest for keeping the obviously tired teen out so late (not everyone was a night-owl like himself, he was learning).

"I feel like I've kept you up," Calum admits, chewing on the corner of his lips with his eyebrows drawn together. Michael widens his eyes in protest, but Calum continued before he can say anything. "You can go to bed if you want to; I'll be out here for a while."

"No, I'm fine!" Michael reassured, patting Calums hand that rested on his knee. "It's very peaceful out here. Plus, you'll protect me if anything happens." He gave Calum a pointed look before settling down to lie on the rock, his green eyes lazily looking up and around at the star-written sky.

Calum nodded and settled back down onto the rock as well, his eyes trailed up to the constellations. The clouds had thinned out so the different forms could be seen, and Calum pointed out the ones he saw and knew of with Michael listening along. Eventually, the red haired teen moved his head to lay on Calums' stomach, a soft and warm pillow that was far more comfortable than the cold rock.

Calum stilled slightly at the weight being added to his stomach, but continued talking once he realized what Muchael was up to, butterflies erupting strangely inside him. He raked his fingers through Michaels' hair subconsciously as he continued his soft, slow talk, and Michael smiled up at him (unfortunately, Calum didn't notice the stars in Michael's eyes, as his were focused solely on the stars above their heads).

Michael allowed himself to get lost in studying Calums unique features at his smooth voice explained the different constellations and their meanings. Calum had very unique features, as his cheeks

"... And then-" Calum stopped the babbling on about the stars, looking down his chest to see Michael sound alseep with little puffs of air escaping his lips every few seconds. He stared down at the other for a few moments in silence, a small smile on his lips, before looking back up to the speckled sky.

He smiled at nothing and everything as he looks at the sky, his nails scratching Michael's skull lightly as his thoughts traveled from land to land. Calum felt his eyes grow heavy as his mind slowly settled itself down. The melodic dull of the small waves lapping on the shoreline of the lake and the noises from the forest a ways away eventually made Calum feel as though his eyes were ten times heavier than moments before, and he found himself drifting off to a peaceful sleep.

\--=--

_Calum stands near the back of a dark but clean chamber and watches with interest as three men and two women keep huddled around a table with books and maps open all around them. There are torches along the walls with black Hellfire in them, all lighting up the room fairly well (which is surprising considering they are, yanno, black). They men and women all look fairly young, and their voices carry from where they are in the middle of the room by the table to where Calum is._

_"This isn't right," one woman says. Her hair is black and her eyes are a bright golden color that bounces off the yellow candlelight--much as Hestia's has in the past. Her dress billows around her like smoke, and Calum initially thinks it's an white color. His eyes widen as he realizes that it's made of all sorts of changing colors--red, blue, and yellow flowers blooming in the fabric--but it's strangely faded, like someone stripped away the top coat in a painting. She motions on the map with her hand, the gold and jeweled bracelets on her wrists rattling against one another musically. "It should be nearing the end of the harvest season in old Athens and new India, but they're still flourishing without an end. And in Australia, they're going through another long and cold winter without an end in the freezing weather."_

_"London hasn't even seen as much rain as they normally would at this time of the year." The woman with blonde hair adds, her bright green dress and dark cape flowing around her as she gestured a place on the map. Her features are starkly similar to the other woman, and Calum realizes with a start he's in the presence of the Queen of the Underworld and her mother._

_Calum darts his eyes to the man in the center of everyone, his heart pounding excitedly in his chest. His hair is jet black while his skin is Albino white and almost translucent looking. Calum can tell from the distance he's standing at that he's powerful and strong, yet there's still an air of mystery surrounding him. His black flowing robes and long sword tied at the waistband makes Calum slightly nervous but awed as he stares at the god that is his father._

_He starts to step from the shadows to get closer to him, but feels a pair of hands grab him and pull him back by his shoulders. A small gasp leaves his throat and he he turns around sharply at the contact, only to be faced with darkness and silence. With his heart beating wildly in his chest, Calum places a hand on his knife and slowly turns back around to tune back into the heavy conversation at the table._

_Hades turns to his eldest mortal son and places a hand on his shoulder. "Nico, what do you think?"_

_"We_ need _Calum here." Nico, Calum learns, tells his father, glancing at Pherspose as he does. He's in a black t-shirt and black jeans, with a bandana with skulls on it as a headband pulling his long black hair back from his dark eyes. He's mostly pale, but there's still a glow of warmth and life that flushes his cheeks pink. Calum perks up at the mention of his name, and steps forward slightly to hear better (though not far enough to feel hands come out to stop him again). Hades opens his mouth to speak, but is cut off by his wife. "He knows greek mythology_ more _than the people who were actually_ in _the events that happened. Plus, he's already pretty handy with a sword." Calum's chest filled with pride as this stranger spoke so highly about him, and. Wow. Hades (his fucking godly parent) is nodding along like he agrees._ Like he believes it's true.

 _"The boy," starts Pherspose, glaring at Hades with her swirling gold eyes, "that my husband bred with a_ mortal _? The mortal he had an affair with while still married to me?"_

 _"I_ do _believe you're forgetting Adonis, my dear wife." Hades says easily, looking down searchingly at the collection of maps and diagrams laid out in front of them. Calum almost feels mad, but then remembers that myth as well and bites on his fist to keep his laughs quiet. Persephone opens her mouth to defend her past (and_ only _, mind you) affair before her mother Demeter whacks her on the arm with a rolled up piece of paper._

 _"As much as I hate to admit to to, Hades and Nico are right. I don't like any of Hades spawns," Nico glares at Demeter, and Will presses a hand to Nico's to smooth out the forming fist without looking up from his scribbled handwriting. Nico softens slightly and sneaks his fingers in between the other mans to give their intertwined hands a light squeeze of thanks (Calum feels something strange flutter in his tummy and his cheeks warm, but shakes it off as being in the same room as three of the figures he idolized as a child). "They are useful and_ far _smarter than any of the other demigods."_

 _"But_ how _do we get him here?" The tan guy mumbles, one curly strand of hair falling into his face. Nico opens his mouth to speak, but shuts it once Hades starts talking._

 _"He'll know." He says, his black eyes directly on Calum, looking at him,_ speaking  _to him. Calums' chest tightens up and he nods his head to confirm even though he hasn't any idea of how he's supposed to get to Hell._

_"How-" Nico starts, staring at Hades with confusion and the faintest bit of annoyance on his face. A rattling that comes from all around the room shakes the walls and jumbles the contents on the table top, causing Nico to stop his question and dash forward for the candle that started to topple over._

_Calum glances all around him as dust from the ceiling falls down on them, while the three gods and goddesses look annoyingly towards the ceiling._

_"Zeus." Demeter and Pherspose say at the same time, Hades' wife glaring at him. "What did you_ do _, Hades?" she demands, placing a hand on the table to steady the scrolls from rolling of the table._

 _"Calum," Hades starts, earning an exasperated look from everyone at the table. "I can't keep you here much longer; it seems Zeus has found out what I'm up to. We have to meet in person so I can explain all of this to you. I believe you'll be able to find a way here." Calum nods his head frantically and smild back at his father who gives him a warm look in return. "Now, go Calum._ Go! _"_

\--=--

Calum blearily opened his eyes and breathed in deeply (although it was quite difficult with the heavy weight of a head lying on his stomach), his heart a steady and ample rate in his chest. Despite only sleeping--if you could even call it that--for less than two hours, Calum felt wide awake and shifted so he could sit up a bit, Michaels head lolling into his lap as he did so. Calum ran a hand through his hair and calmly looked down at the sleeping teen in his lap, his heart plummeting with what he was about to do. He just looked so innocent and soft that he didn't want to disturb the boy and cause him to get angry with him. Calum thought back to what his dad said and ran his hand one last time through Michaels hair before lightly placing them on the others shoulders.

"Hey, Mike." He whispered, shaking his shoulder slightly as to wake him. "Wake up buddy, we feel asleep on a rock." If Michael heard him, he didn't let Calum know in anyway. "C'mon," Calum urged, speaking louder and shaking him a bit more.

Michael scrunched up his nose and squeezed his eyes shut before groaning and batting Calum's peering face away from his own. "Le'mme sleep," he mumbled, "go away."

"I'm really sorry." Calum said sincerely, squeezing his shoulders slightly. "But we should head back to our cabins so we don't get in trouble."

Michael blinked his eyes opened and pouted up at Calums upside down face. "Fine." He grumbled, shifting to sit up fully and slide off the rock. "But you're helpin' be in my bed--I'll pass out otherwise."

Calum said nothing, but grinned at Michael's back and followed him off the rock, his legs tired from sleep. Right as Calums' feet touched the ground, he felt a pull in his gut going down towards what he assumed was the Underworld and he touched his stomach briefly before putting an arm around Michael to help lead him towards his cabin.

Michael sighed sleepily and leaned into Calum, his head coming to rest on his shoulder. His breath fanned over Calums' neck and gave the tan boy goosebumps, for the contrast in the temperatures was stark. Most of his weight was leaned onto Calum, but the other didn't buckle under the heavy load and the two stumbled on together. Michael mumbled sleepy, incoherent thoughts the whole way back, one arm slung around Calums' neck and gripping his curly hair, while the other was hanging limply at his side.

"Mhmm," Calum hummed in reply to another mumbled complaint from Michael and felt the other sigh, his breath fanning against his neck. "Almost there, buddy." He told him, the Barbie-like cabin coming into view.

The outside was pristine and clean, with blue and white checkerboard tiles on the porch, and grey walls. There were white curtains and white stairs with a white railing surrounding the porch.

"Wait," Michael mumbled sleepily almost tripping up the gray steps to the cabin. "Can't come in--get in trouble."

The choppy sentences made Calum smile, and he--in a fit of fond emotions--wraps his arms around Michael in a tight embrace. Michael smiled sleepily into his shoulder and hugs him back, not knowing that he will be the last human Calum will come in contact with for some time.

"I'll get in trouble if that means getting you inside and in bed safely." Calum told him, pulling back to look into his eyes.

"Cute." Michael mumbled as Calum opened the door, causing the other to fumble slightly.

Behind the pastel pink door was more ruffles and fluff, the curtains to the individual beds drawn closed. There were soft snores coming from most of them (something Calum was  _definitely_  going to use as blackmail for later) and chests at the end of each bed with their names written is script. Michael lead them over to the bed at the far back of the cabin, it's location almost completely secluded. He plops into his bed face first into the pillow and toes his shoes off while Calum watched with an amused smile. Michael rolled over in his bed and looked at scaly through tired, lidded eyes.

"Night, buddy." Calum told him, giving him a small wave. "I'll see you soon, alright? Don't worry about me." He bent down to give the other one last quick hug, savoring the warmth of another human one last time. Calums' heart pounded in his chest as he thought about what laid ahead and he swallowed past the terrified lump in his throat, squeezing his eyes shut.

"See ya tomorrow," Michael mumbled into his shoulder, detaching himself from the hug to turn back to his bed. "Thanks."

Calum rushed out of the cabin with guilt eating away at his stomach. The pull at his gut was back, but familiar and made him feel more grounded than anything. The wind swept back his hair from his forehead as he made the short run back to his backpack. Back at his cabin, he chunked ambrosia, nectar, and a spare change of clothes in his backpack, along with a few more items he deemed essential. He scribbled a few words on a piece of paper and stuck it to the closing cabin door behind him. With his hand clasped on his sword, he whispered a quick "open" and the metal grew before his eyes as he rushed from his cabin and to the Dining Hall hill.

" _Please_  let this work." Calum said aloud to himself at the centre of the dining hall, staring down at the black crack near the firepit. The torches were all still lit but seemed to dim around him, as though they were anticipating what was to come.

He ran the tip of Night Fury along the length of the crack before plunging her into the center, jumping back and shouting in triumph when the ground split before him. A set of earthen stairs appeared before him, and continued on for miles and miles, disappearing into a dark abyss. Calum swallowed thickly as his heart raced in his chest and his hands became clammy with anxiety. His converse-clad foot took one step; then another; then another. With one final look at the beautiful Dining Hall around him, he closed the portal door and was plunged into darkness, feeling more at home in the pitch black than he had in weeks.

\--=--

That next morning, all the color drained from Chirons' face as he read " _gone to hell!!_ " in Calums' loopy handwriting.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talk to me on tumblr 2 fondcalum.tumblr.com !!! 
> 
> Comment lots I love comments they make me happy ok thanks for reading my nerd story that I love heaps have a good day/night I love u !!

**Author's Note:**

> A H U G E thanks to SL, A, and K who listened to me babble about anything and everything greek gods/goddesses. I hope you all enjoy this adventure!


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